3 MAY 1957, Page 32

Gownsman's Gallows. By Katherine Farrer. (Hodder and Stoughton, 12s. 6d.)

Were it not for far-fetched plot—an undergraduate connives at burning of body rather than be wrongly suspected of running over it; complicated harking-back to French resistance—this elegant scamper along the banks of both rivers Cher, Oxford's and Touraine's, might well be hailed as a little classic. Charmingly and lightly written, its fastidiously sketched-in characters include a splendidly slob- bering, learnedly described bloodhound, and the dialogue is lively and literate. When Miss Farrer decides to convince as well as to cozen, she may well write a knock-out.

CHRISTOPHER PYM