The Honourable Detective

British author Ashford bases his new thriller on the sense of ethics guiding Mike Ansell, his wife Brenda and Detective Inspector Brice vs. the venality of one Stephen Poulton. Refusing to get ``involved'' in compromising circumstances, Poulton affects ignorance of a hit-and-run accident he happened to glimpse--as did Ansell, who instead helps the victim and cooperates with Brice (in charge of the case). Both witnesses find a note, enclosing 1000, and warning them to silence; Poulton pockets his while Ansell turns his own bribe over to the police. But the price of their good citizenship is set and demanded by crooks, who beat Ansell and abuse Brenda viciously, then threaten to kill them if they don't quit talking. Detective Brice suffers too, racing demotion for ``wasting time'' on a minor case. As Ashford tells the story in his carefully measured prose, the reader ponders the point: Does crime pay? Are the Ansells and Brice foolish and Poulton wise, living like a sybarite on easy money? Cynics may disagree with the story's rather ambiguous conclusion. (Oct.)