Murder Nost Cozy: 2mysteries in the Classic Tradition

Readers who prefer that deeds, however dastardly, at least be civilized will enjoy the nine tales in this engaging collection (although not all are murder mysteries, despite the title). Some of the best showings have a decided air of the puzzle about them, such as C. M. Chan's story, which puts Det. Sgt. Jack Gibbons and his wealthy friend Phillip Bethancourt on the case when a woman applying makeup falls over dead in the safety of her own bedroom. Amanda Cross's Harvard professor and amateur sleuth Kate Fansler is reluctantly drawn into the family affairs of a disagreeable colleague when his young daughter appeals to her for help in solving a dognapping. Margery Allingham's Albert Campion and Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey thwart criminals with their usual aristocratic aplomb; but Julian Symons's tongue-in-cheek offering taps familiar characters of another sort as trouble brews for Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum et al., and only Miss Harple, an authority on the works of Agatha Christie, can sort out what is afoot. Manson edited Mystery for Christmas. (Jan.)