Books: Murders in June

Murder in June

DESIGN IN EVIL—Rufus King—Crime Club ($2). Shanghaied Manhattan maiden on an outbound motor cruiser is in a sad plight when a psychiatrist insists that she is schizophrenic, and the subsequent stabbing of a frightened woman is charged to her account. A tempest-tossed thriller with interesting psychological overtones.

THE GILDED MAN—Carter Dickson—William Morrow ($2). Sir Henry Merri-vale, in sportive mood, solves the stabbing of an English country gentleman who was struck down with his own fruit knife while robbing his own art gallery. An ironclad puzzle, with some hilarious interludes.

MURDER IN RETROSPECT—Agatha Christie—Dodd, Mead ($2). Hercule Poirot prods the memories of surviving participants in a 16-year-old English seaside poisoning affair, pulls out the unsuspected killer and clears the scutcheon of a young girl whose mother was convicted of the crime. An exciting exercise in high-&-low deducing.

THE BIG MIDGET MURDERS—Craig Rice —Simon & Schuster ($2). A lively and unorthodox Chicago trio, Lawyer Malone and a young-couple-about-town, finally snare the slayer of a diabolically minded dwarf who badly needed killing. Genially ribald dialogue and a cleverly concocted plot.