Once again Detective-Inspector Bill Aveyard,

the youngest man ever to hold that rank in

the Birton policc force, is engaged, with the

help of Detective-Sergeant Jim Bruton, in

unraveling a mysterious crime in a Midlands

village. This time it seems to be all a matter of

bones : the jawbone a dog finds in the grounds

nf the Hall, and the rcst of the skeleton the

police uncover after a painstaking search of

the village of Bent; the bone dust that con-

tains blood beneath a wood-yard s circular

saw; the skeleton in a closet in Bent Hall

itself. The stone-built village of Bent carries

a rich patina of life: Nellie Binns is waiting

to die but needs first to speak of what hap-

pened long ago; Mrs. Gibbins covers walls

with tortured paintings; Fran does more for

a child than even its mother can.

Here is the James Fraser authenticity, the

fascinating detail of crime-detection probing

into village life--a background no one paints

better. All the clues arc there, for readers

will be drawn into the exeitiug game of solv-

ing the plots and counterplots; but Deadly

Nightshade can be enjoyed on another level

as a descriptive novel of the highest quality.