15 AUGUST 1958, Page 24

A Penknife in my Heart. By Nicholas Blake. (Collins, 12s.

6d.) Two men with murder in mind swop victims, so that their seemingly motiveless murders shall go undetected. The notion has been used before—this time the setting is English, the writing trim and serviceable; the plot perfunctory; and the detail improbable. This gifted writer always seems to have more respect for the language than the genre.