Crime Yellow: Gollancz New Crimes 1

British publisher Gollancz has recently taken over the yearly New Crimes anthology, but its first volume is, on the whole, overpriced and unimpressive, its stories relying heavily on plot at the expense of character development. Among the most appealing is Robert Richardson's ``The Woman of Goodwill,'' a Holmesian pastiche that would have offended the Victorians' sense of propriety. In American writer Ed Gorman's ``One of Those Days, One of Those Nights,'' the harassed protagonist has been held up by a thug who, threatening to kill the man's wife, sends him to the nearest ATM with orders to return with the maximum withdrawal. While standing at the (outdoor) ATM in a downpour, trying to remember his PIN, he is held up by a second thug. How does he solve his dilemma? Ingeniously, to be sure. Janwillem van de Wetering's ``Mangrove Mama'' is an unusual tale of revenge upon a vain, spoiled, drunken idler who has shot eagles and other rare species because their existence threatened his plans for a palace on a Florida key. The rest of Jakubowski's selections are generally disappointing. (July)