THE ARBOGAST CASE

German novelist Hettche's first book to be translated into English is a suspenseful, serious crime story set in postwar West Germany. Based on an infamous actual case, this legal thriller tells how Hans Arbogast, a young traveling salesman, spent almost 15 years in prison for the inexplicable death of Marie Gurst, an East German refugee, during a casual, if somewhat mutually violent, sexual romp. In Gaffney's crisp translation, Hettche's story traces the quiet ups and downs of Arbogast's long imprisonment: "After his hopes of imminent release had faded, he found that the world within him shrank. Like a suffocating man desperate for larger lungs and more oxygen, he wished for more memories, more of a past." The political atmosphere is equally stifling in a stern postwar West Germany intolerant of both Arbogast's sexual impropriety and any questioning of its leading forensic pathologists. Only after an East German expert, a crusading Swiss novelist and a tough West German lawyer delve into the mystery of Gurst's death does anybody begin to rethink Arbogast's case. Readers craving action and thrills might find Hettche's novel slightly slow going, but its psychological depth and sociological heft make it a solid achievement. (Nov.)