Mists Over Mosley

Beatrice Cater is a mean old woman who lives in the tiny village of Marldale in the north of England. She puts on airs, she sticks her nose in everyone's business, and she complains about ev erything at the top of her lungs. One morning, she is found hanged from a beam in her bedroom. But the peculiar thing is that she was hanged in another room of the house and moved to the bedroom where the bedcovers give evi dence that two people have been enjoy ing themselves. This strange murder, combined with the news of a coven of witches in Marldale, leads detective su perintendent Grimshaw to investigate. But, of course, he's beaten to the draw by Inspector Mosley. Mosley, the hero of three previous Greenwood novels (Murder, Mr. Mosley, etc.), is to Marldale what Sheriff Andy Taylor is to May berry. He likes the people he's assigned to, and, more importantly, he under stands their hopes, their dreams, their plans and their delusions. This ought to make for a good read, but unfortunately, Greenwood's narrative suffers from so many shifting points of view that the flimsy story line is often obscured, leav ing the reader confused. Even so, one looks forward to two more Mosley books still to be published, though post humously; ""John Greenwood'' was the pen name of John Buxton Hilton, who died this past summer. (December