I'll Sing You Two-O: An Inspector Webb Mystery

Titled after an old English folksong, the latest in the Inspector Webb series (after The Gospel Makers) has Webb investigating the deaths of two young men, twins, whose bodies are found in an abandoned van outside the house of Monica Tovey, a magistrate. Tovey is particularly upset because, after hearing the vehicle sputter to a stop outside her door one night, she peeked out the window and saw the driver, who in the streetlamp's light stared back at her. If this is the killer, she fears for her safety. Delving into the twins' lives, Webb learns they were a pair of football-mad window washers, who committed a little petty theft on the side--the sort whose penchant for trouble could have made them any number of enemies. The case becomes more elusive, however, when the mysterious driver calls Tovey and convinces her that he is guilty only of stealing the abandoned van, not of murder. Webb, as in previous books, must literally go back to the drawing board, where his skill as an artist frees him to record his impressions and home in on the murderer. Fraser's rendering of an English community is again impeccable, enabling a reader not only to take pleasure in the mystery itself, which involves a very unlikely killer, but also to feel part of the life of a small, worried town. (Dec.)