An Evil Hour

McGown (A Perfect Match has written a tidy, quietly engrossing mystery that features Harry Lambert, an ex-detective inspector for Scotland Yard fired because of his uncontrollable temper. Lambert is hired by Laura Culver to look into the murder of her husband Gerald, a member of Parliament who was stabbed to death in the lobby of their posh London apartment house. The first stop in his investigation is Amblesea, an up-and-coming resort town on England's southern coast, where his abrasive personality puts him at odds with detective Tom Webb, who has been struggling to solve the recent stabbing death of a local taxi driver. After the body of Rosemary Wright, a clerk in the Ministry of Defense, is discovered in her London home, Lambert, relentlessly prying, finds that all three victims were in Amblesea the night of December 31. Another body surfaces in the chill waters off the Wellington Hotel, and Lambert ties up all the loose ends, but not before the murderer is alerted and makes devious plans to escape. This mild, predictable story is kept alive by its strong characters. (May 19)