WYCLIFFE AND THE WINSOR BLUE

Burley picks up pace in his latest Inspector Wycliffe adventure, set in seaside Falmouth, where Francis Garland has been shot to death a day after his father's funeral. Garland senior, a competent but unrecognized painter, had built his art shop and printing works into a substantial fortune. He willed the shop to niece Cathy Carne, its longtime manager, and the rest of the estate to ineffectual daughter Beryl and closet-homosexual son Francis. There are small legacies--one to Alan Tate, a doctor and son of famed painter Gifford, and one to Martin Burger, another painter--both with cryptic messages. Not until Wycliffe uncovers the meaning of those enigmatic bequests and two more people have died does he see the way to Francis Garland's killer. The author's literate police procedurals (Wycliffe and the Quiet Virgin, 1896; etc.) rarely disappoint. This one goes a step further, with strong psychological insight, livelier action and interesting motivation. Burley's best to date.