27 JUNE 1992, page 29

Less Deadly Than P. Mayle

Alexander Chancellor H igh summer is upon us, and the flights from London to Pisa are fully booked. It may not have been John Mortimer who invented the concept of `Chiantishire'......

Tracing Grandmother's Footsteps

Anita Brookner I LOCK MY DOOR UPON MYSELF by Joyce Carol Oates Blackstaff Press, £6.95, pp. 98 J oyce Carol Oates is a writer much appreciated in her native America — John......