CURIOSITY DIDN'T KILL THE CAT

. . . and you can't be too sure satisfaction will revive it since this is a slowpoky story set in a small resort town in Oregon where Conan Flagg runs a bookshop and a man is murdered while the copy of Crime and Punishment he's been reading is mysteriously returned to the shelf. It's been used to shuttle messages and there are Russian trawlers near at hand as well as an elderly scientist-defector. The small town touches seem gen-u-ine and would indicate a more settled readership.