6 APRIL 1956, Page 36

THE PAPER CHASE. By Julian Symons. (Collins, 10s. 6d.) A

lively and literate detective-story writer—as it might be Mr. Symons—takes a job at a 'progressive' school to get 'material.' Author and character, between them, dredge up an odd assort- ment, from an ageing homosexual double-crosser to a single- minded heterosexual young matron. There's a touch of the old sardonic humour, and more than a touch of style, but Mr. Symons seems one stage further removed from plausibility than he was in The Thirty-First of February and The Narrowing Circle.