SMEAR JOB

Whoever is paying James Mitchell by the word is doing him a disservice; this latest adventure for reluctant British Intelligence agent Callan would be twice as good if it were half as long. Four or five subplots interfere with a main one that's busy enough: Callan and his odoriferous sidekick (ex-con Lonely has a tastelessly exploited ""personal freshness problem"") must bankrupt a compulsive German gambler, steal a code-laden paperback copy of Das Kapital from an impoverished lord who's living in a Sicilian palace, and track down the nympho-addict daughter of a West German politico (she's in Las Vegas). The sourly witty crook talk and the poker hustling (courtesy of card-sharp Bulky Berkeley) are the best things here, but congressmen, auto chases, rough-ups, break-ins, shoot-outs, and freak-outs aplenty promise lively, lengthy escape for those readers to whom more is more.