LINE UP FOR MURDER

After a bad lapse (Dangerous to Know, p. 969), Babson is back on the charm track with another endearing heroine--Dorrie Wilson, a middle-aged, good-natured, sharp-eyed busybody who (as a favor to friends) has queued up, several days ahead of time, for Bonnard's 100th anniversary sale. . . and a refrigerator at a giveaway price. Also on the queue: mischief-minded Lucinda Bonnard, the store owner's only child, infuriated and alienated from her family by the prospect of her widowed father's incipient marriage; Lucy's intense, possessive boyfriend Sakim; and such genuine bargain-hunters as budding filmmaker Tony Adair (who's much attracted to Lucy). What nastiness are Lucy and Sakim planning? That's the only mystery here. But, with Dorrie as the innocent bystander who soon gets highly involved, it's an unambitious bubble of fun all the way through.