MRS. PARGETER'S POINT OF HONOUR

Mrs. Pargeter’s Point Of Honour ($22.00, Oct.; 272 pp.; 0-684-86295-6) While lesser art thieves, like Veronica Chastaigne’s late husband Bennie, wear themselves out merely removing paintings from museum walls, irrepressible Melita Pargeter (Mrs. Pargeter’s Plot, 1998, etc.) and her raffish associates try to oblige her dying acquaintance by tackling an infinitely trickier job: returning the paintings Bennie assembled to their rightful owners without leaving a trace.