10 FEBRUARY 1956, Page 24

THE HOUSE THAT DIED. By Josephine Gill. (Crime Club, 10s.

6d.) Murderous happenings in an old house in Boston's Back Bay, where first the aged Miss Bellamy's companion and then Miss Bellamy herself are found mysteriously dead. Investigation, by a vigilant reporter, culminates in the laying of one of those traps into which the character we have least reason for suspecting obligingly walks. The writing is brisk enough to carry a rather insubstantial plot.