Cold Iron

What a heady pleasure: a ""novel of suspense and mystery'' that is stylishly written, urbane and civilized, that wears its wide learning gracefully and features popular French detective Henri Castang, who can without pomp and ceremony toss off quotations from Virginia Woolf and Auden, among others. An aristocratic lady has been murdered. Member of a reactionary family that still looks back upon the glory that was Napoleon, she loathed the heathen Algerians and was insanely convinced of a diabolical plot against La Patrie by villainous Communists, Jews and Freemasons. Newly posted to the provinces (to his dismay), Castang and his partner, the frisky, foul-mouthed Amazon, Veronique, are assigned to the case. Then the victim's husband, a rich wine merchant, is also murdered, and there is yet another suspicious death. Learning the identity of the miscreant is only one of the delights of the novel as novelof character and dialogue, of scenes freshly observed and deftly expressed in elegant language. (November 7)