10 FEBRUARY 1956, Page 24

THE FRAZER ACQUITTAL. By Stephen Ransome. (Gollancz, 10s. 6d.) Another

novel which leans heavily on contrivance. A New England lawyer, engaged simultaneously in defending a client charged with murder and shielding the woman he believes to be guilty, becomes involved in a duel of wits with a more clear-sighted investigator. The intrigue itself builds up quite neatly, with attempts at a double-bluff technique. But the small-town femme fatale ('. . . how could she be at once so apparently good, secretly so evil, and so captivating,' etc.) scarcely comes sufficiently to life for one greatly to care whether in fact she did the shooting.