WREATH OF HONESTY

Engaging second outing for retired Detective Chief Superintendent Henry Bassett (Screaming Bones, 1990), now mulling over a gently arranged corpse in Crum Cottage—and, while he's at it, absolving a gypsy duo of stealing a sack of porcelains and figuring out the year-and-a-half-ago disappearance of a judge. Again relying on Glevebourne officers Greenaway and Miller to do the legwork (license checking, etc.), as well as on the regulars at the Pheasant for background material (otherwise known as gossip), Bassett pieces together a tale of two sisters, one plain, one a beauty, and their loves—both before and during marriage—to distinguish between the scapegoat, the duped, and the guilty. Bassett's interrogations, like Columbo's but with an English accent, and his neighborly chats provide much charm, but there's also firm craftsmanship, a well-thought-out plot, interesting clues, and a clever switch, then re-switch. The quintessential ``cozy'' mystery.