16 NOVEMBER 1956, Page 24

TWELVE HORSES AND THE HANGMAN'S NOOSE. By Gladys Mitchell. (Michael

Joseph, 12s. 6d.) Three murders in this well- written, sloppily conceived frolic among livery stables and a local grammar school, ornamented with unlikely rustics, but with Mrs. Bradley—now be-Darned—a little less hideously overdrawn than usual : almost down to life-size, in fact. Maddening thing about Miss Mitchell is that the more implausible her plots the more readable she is.

CHRISTOPHER PYM