Trial by Fury

Author of more than 50 novels, Ferrars creates ordinary British characters and places them in outre circumstances. In this ambient, village mystery, Constance Lawley, a 60-year-old widow who likes ``doing for'' people in need of occasional help, is called on to housekeep at the home of elderly Col. and Dorothea Barrows, after Mrs. Barrow's recent hospitalization. Living with the couple is their grandson Colin, a handsome but strange 15-year-old, orphaned since birth, according to local belief. That story is proved a lie when Margot Pauling, the Barrowses' daughter, arrives and outrages Colin by claiming he's her son. Tactful Constance leaves the four to discuss the situation among themselves and, upon her return, finds them fatally shot. Presumably the angry boy killed his grandparents, mother and himself to exact vengeance for their deceit. But another body, found later, raises questions about the family's relations with others, and keeps suspense at a pitch until the author smartly solves the case. (Dec.)