Winter Rules: An Inspector Angus Straun Mystery

This tightly written new Angus Straun mystery (after Laid Dead ) allows the Scottish-born London police officer and novelist to combine his two loves: golf and luxury sports cars. Because of his knowledge of the former, Inspector Straun is assigned to guard Augustus Aligar, new ruler of the African nation of Chakra, who wants to learn more about British golf in hopes of developing the sport as a tourist attraction in his native land. At Rogues, an exclusive course founded by some extremely shady characters, someone takes a shot at Aligar, whose Rolls-Royce is subsequently stolen. We learn a great deal about the export market in heisted luxury cars, which are usually pre-selected for theft and then spirited out of the country, often to prime markets in Africa. Visiting Chakra at Aligar's invitation, Straun comes under machine-gun fire on the golf course; later, in a newspaper office, he sees a prepared headline: ``Tragic Accident on Golf Course / Visiting Policeman Shot Dead.'' A coup attempt follows. Under golf's Winter Rules, Straun had previously explained to Aligars, ``you can get away with murder''--but not with the brainy Angus on the job in a drily witty tale whose low-key style will appeal to fans of the traditional British crime novel. ( Mar. )