Murder on the Thirteenth

Witches are abroad in 1943 as brawny and brainy Inspector Albert V. Tretheway (Tre-THOO-ey) of the Fort York, Canada, police investigates his second case (after A Good Year for Murder ). The amusing, outlandish adventure begins near midnight on January 13, during the most extensive blackout exercise held in North America. All goes well for Tretheway and his squad of air-raid wardens until lights are reported flickering above the marshes of tiny Hickory Island. Tretheway finds remains of a fire, a bronze bowl, pins and wax with mysterious marks in the surrounding snow--sure signs of witches, says warden Cynthia Moon. On the 13th day of successive months, four members of Tretheway's squad die--one pushed from a hotel roof, one found clutching a dead owl in each hand, one poisoned by nightshade and another roasted in a bonfire--before Tretheway arrests the culprit on the 13th green of a golf course. Although alert readers may pick out the villain early on, it remains a pleasure to sit in on Albert and his sister Addie's Saturday-night euchre parties as the aroma of fresh-baked bread mingles with that of applewood blazing in the fireplace. (Dec.)