KINDNESS CAN KILL

Everyone loved the late Julia Henderson, and that's what makes everyone's wives in Rickenham Green such good suspects. Laura Sutcliffe didn't invite her to her son Johnny's wedding, but Johnny and his father Graham both sent her invitations anyway; Gerry Clayton, who'd resigned from his teaching job over a sex scandal with a student, can't explain how his fingerprints got into her house; her ex-husband, Bart Henderson, evidently hadn't given up hope of winning her back; even Michael Barfoot, the local vicar, was inspired to fantasies he'd rather have repressed. It's up to Chief Inspector Ian Roper to figure out which of the many heads Julia turned was responsible for her bludgeoning death. British writer Bolitho's generous way with clues—plus her low- key, dispassionate view of her hotblooded characters—makes this a promising debut in the manner of Peter Robinson's ice-cold studies of passion.