3 MAY 1957, Page 31

What Rough Beast. By John Trench. (Mac- donald, 10s. 6d.)

Teddy-boy goings-on in a cathedral town, where a canon is framed. The

author enjoys his dislike of modern youth of the obstreperous lower orders, and his ignorance about saleroom practice (auctioneers aren't all- that scared of 'the ring,' and lots must be paid for before being taken away) would matter less

if he didn't write so knowingly, and so disap- provingly. But there is a faint echo of the late- lamented Reggie Fortune about the allusive prose, and much that is enjoyable in a crime story with a sharply observed background and a highly personal point of view,