THE RIDDLE OF THE FLY

16 short stories (with a dividend in the title piece which improvises three variations on a curious Latin phrase) again display this author's qualities of grace and imagination, ability to pinpoint incidents sharply and to hold a mood or feeling firmly. The Latin phrase, diamond etched on a window pane in a brownstone in New York City, is explained in three separate ways; a lifeguard makes his last challenge to the ocean in a hurricane; a romantic gesture hides the theft of flowers; Miss Barrington, who gives shampoos, murders when her helper "steals" the milkman from her; a woman traces the origin of her name — and finds a satisfying story; a husband, not given to the truth, appropriates even his wife's fishing exploit — these are the tales. A funeral for a doll; a bad day in a family holiday; a sleepless night; an interview with an author; foraging when summer visitors leave; a widow's companionship for a boy — carry a sense of time and place and people. Literate and likable.