Lestrade and the Deadly Game

Among the charms of Trow's Lestrade novels (Lestrade and the Ripper, Forecasts, July 5) are tight historical detail, an unusual mix of slapstick and literate humor, and unpredictable plots. In this fifth of the series, it is 1908, and against a backdrop of European imperialism, the Olympic games are coming to London and the suffragist movement is upsetting the status quo. When Lestrade investigates the possible suicide of Anstruther Fitzgibbon, the son of the Marquess of Bolsover, he sees at once that the death was, in fact, murder. Soon he is plunged into stopping a series of killings that seems aimed at British athletes, who are being done to death by shooting, stabbing and poison. Complicating matters are an American Pinkerton agent, officers of the French S ret and German Politzei, and British and American newspaper reporters. Trow, having appropriated Conan Doyle's ferret-faced inspector to good advantage, has created a delightful series. Any mystery fan, whether partial to locked rooms, serial killers, period novels or humorous ones, could happily read any of the Lestrades--and this latest is a fine place to start. (Aug.)