THE WHEEL TURNS

Scotland Yard's Chief-Superintendent Tom Pollard and laconic sidekick Gregory Toye (Change for the Worse) are called on for help in the death of Laura Raymond-Dowdy--a hostile and definitely non-U sort who had suddenly surfaced as the illegitimate half-sister of wealthy widower Basil Railsdon. Could Laura's carbon-monoxide-poisoning demise be connected to the fact that Basil, owner of Loxford House, is on the verge of election to Parliament and marriage to elegant blueblood Henrietta Legge? Well, perhaps--even if Basil seemed to be trying to make Laura ""one of the family"" before her death (to the surprise of his young daughter Amanda and her fiancÉ). True, the reader knows from the start why Laura was getting V.I.P. treatment from Basil. But it takes one of Pollard's sudden insights to finger the murderer--with a slow, solid build to the surprise finish. Convincing plot, well-developed characters: by far the best of Lemarchand's recent output.