16 AUGUST 1957, Page 23

It's a Crime

The Soft Talkers. By Margaret Millar. (Gol- lancz, 12s. 6d.) Brilliant surprise packet: sar- donically amused and sardonically amusing story of well-heeled Canadian smart set in which one Martini-mopper-upper cuckolds another, leaves suicide note and—did he, fall or was he pushed? Miss Millar, pulling off second stag- gering (and stylish) tour de force in two books, goes top of the season's averages.