19 JANUARY 1985, page 29

Top Cops

Stan Gebler Davies Lightning Ed McBain (Hamish Hamilton £8.95) E d McBain has chosen an elegant way of accusing his televisional imitators of plagiarism. One of the more......

Navel-gazers

Prabhu Guptara The British Council: The First Fifty Years Frances Donaldson (Cape £16) W ho reads histories of organisations? Surely only people passionately in- terested in......