25 JANUARY 1957, Page 23

Postmark Murder. By M. G. Eberhart. (Collins, 10s. 6d.) Genteel,

middle-class Chicago setting; solemn, rather sentimentalised small girl as central figure. Miss Eberhart is too well- mannered to bespatter her readers with blood, but too old a hand not to manage her tricks of suspense with maximum effectiveness.