29 JUNE 1956, Page 22

ONE MAN'S POISON. By Sebastian Fox. (Chatto and Windus, 12s.

6d.) Poison is fed to a poisonous broadcasting literary gent; death takes place not until half-way through the book, but scene and characters are beautifully deployed, and the solution is elegantly sorted out by one of those wordly old lawyers who are ousting the younger sons of peers as the chic dicks of our time.