THE FILE ON DEVLIN

It is kinder to read this as romance than intrigue, but even so it will assume a more permissive type of feminine reader who will be lulled by the iridescent sentiment. Lawrence Devlin is declared missing in Afghanistan-- he was a notable writer and Nobel contender. Surviving him are Sally, his only daughter by a first marriage, and Elizabeth, his wife by a second marriage, who had refused to see Sally. Also surviving him are some books and papers which Sally tries to piece together but as she does so, there is the sensation that she is being watched and some have disappeared. She is persuaded by Josh Canfield, her father's admirer, and his publisher to look up Elizabeth, his wife, now a wasted woman in an old French chateau. Actually she is only kept alive in the thought that Devlin is.... Very filmy-- still it's not hard to see right through it.