17 JANUARY 1976, page 17

Breaking Up

Francis King Between Me and Life Meryle Secrest (Macdonald and Jane's £7.50) Although she was undoubtedly one of the finest women painters of the twentieth century — a little......

Walled In

°an Robinson Russian Studies of China E. Stuart Kirby ( Macmillan £10.00) T he grievances of the Chinese against USSR are not hard to understand. In all the murky st ory of the......

Crime Fiction

New thrills Patrick Cosgrave Some years ago some bright young publishers hit on a jolly wheeze: rather than publish before Christmas titles that might get lost in the huge......