Murder in Gray and White

This jaunty encore by the author of The J. Alfred Prufrock Murders again features the garrulously wacky but canny widows Angela Benbow and Caledonia Wingate, residents of the affluent California retirement colony of Camden-sur-Mer. When a new arrival, snobbish Amy Kinseth, is beaten to death, Angela and Caledonia offer their skilled amateur services to police Lt. Martinez. Although ordered to stay out of the investigation, small, round Angela and tall, bountiful Cal, majestic in her pearls and flowing caftans, won't be deterred and conduct their own snooping campaign. Angela, prowling in a deserted storage area to rake over Amy's boxes, is locked in the chain-link cage by an unseen assailant. Then Amy's likeable perfumed decorator is slain with one of his antique weapons. Others who know too much, including pink-clad twins Donna and Dora, become potential victims before the clever heroines help catch the killer. The flavor of this crisp, amusing novel is more British than Californian (e.g., Angela talks of ``Michaelmas''), the characters delightfully Dickensian. (Dec.)