30 JANUARY 1932, Page 24

MURDER IN THE SQUIRE'S PEW. By J. S. Fletcher. (Harrap.

7s. 6d.) —A stereotyped detective story on old- fashioned lines. It is difficult to take any interest in the question of who stole the chalice and paten from the vestry and killed the poacher with a spanner. The author handles his few surprises clumsily, and the finish is fiat anticlimax.