Harriet Waugh
The three books published this year that have given me most pleasure are, first, Molly Keane's Loving and Giving (Deutsch, £10.95), a story about the des- tructive power of self-delusion and love. This is not a perfect novel like Good Behaviour but comes close to it. Second on my list is David Lodge's Nice Work (Seck- er, £10.95). Although this is not as funny as Small World, and some of the plotting seems a little plodding and mechanical, it is still intensely enjoyable. My third choice is by a newcomer to fiction. Simon Shaw's Murder out of Tune (Bodley Head, £10.95) is a crime novel satirising the narcissistic world of the acting profession. Its baleful hero, who has a fine line in invective, feels that lesser contemporaries have got parts that he could have done better. His ex- hilarating malice embraces agents, televi- sion producers as well as actors, and when he spontaneously kills a hated rival and gets away with it, he sees no reason not to kill a few more hate figures. Murder out of Tune made me frequently laugh out loud and, unlike many novelists with satirical intent, Simon Shaw never loses sight of the all-importance of plotting and tension.
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