THE GUN AND MR. SMITH

Smooth surroundings for rough tactics as Rosalie is used by uncivil, unloving Hood as a means of entree to the Long Island home of a music critic, where a group of celebrities and an epileptic pretender to a throne are spending the weekend. Terrified, terrorized and manhandled, Rosalie returns to New York with a report of murder for the police who disbelieve her, for Hood who discredits her, until she forestalls Hood's death and secures a finale. An accomplished first, this is also a Crime Club selection.