6 APRIL 1956, Page 36

BUTCHER'S DOZEN. By The Crime Writers' Association. (Heinemann, 15s.) This

collection of fifteen English short stories gives shorter measure for a higher price. But Julian Symons is in superb form here, with his seedy little tale of pen-friends, and there's a macabre and moving fairground story that cries out to be made into a film—preferably by Italians.