6 APRIL 1956, Page 36

It's a Crime

THE SECOND MAN. By Edward Grierson. (Chatto and Windus, 13s. 6d.) It's difficult to see how, or by whom, this tale could be bettered, of a woman barrister who worries away, in the teeth of hostile witnesses and her client's lies, at what she believes to be the truth about a murder. The character of a gallant but tactfully impulsive advocate is beautifully drawn—entirely in terms of her conduct and cross-examining in court—and so are the varying atmospheres of assize, Court of Appeal, and chambers in a provincial town.