Not with a whimper but a bang

Harriet Waugh

STILL LIFE WITH PISTOL by Roger Ormerod

Constable, f7.95

BLACK ICE by Colin Dunne

Seeker & Warburg, £9.95

JEMIMA SHORE'S FIRST CASE AND OTHER STORIES by Antonia Fraser

Weidenfeld & Nicolson, f8.95

SLEEPING DOG by Dick Lochte

Macmillan, f8.95

THE TETHERED GOAT by Jeremiah Healy

Macmillan, £8.50

Ivery much regret that I have not read Roger Ormerod's three previous novels but if they are half as good as Still Life with Pistol he ranks amongst the few English crime writers who can still construct a traditional detective novel in which the ending does not come as a wet squib.

Richard Patton, a retired detective in- spector accompanies his beautiful, young companion Amelia on a summer painting course at a country manor owned and run by an urbane RA artist called Bruno. Bruno owns a number of old masters which he hangs dotted between suspiciously ex- cellent pastiches of those artists by himself. Considerable tensions develop amongst the group of amateur artists taking the course, not least around a would-be potter who never gets round to potting, an amateur artist who turns out to be less amateur than he would have them believe, two juvenile leads who have forgotten their roles, two wronged women and Bruno himself. As for the victim he is shot with his own gun out of his still life.

Our ex-police inspector is too-clever-by- half and keeps jumping to the wrong conclusions and being humiliated by the local constabulary. There are intriguing red herrings and plenty of emotional dra- mas on the way to the truth, while the ending is dramatically and intellectually satisfying. All this is wrapped up in some agreeable writing. It is particularly heartening to read Mr Ormerod as I was beginning to think that the English detec- tive novel in which the ending really mattered had finally died. This impression was enhanced when P. D. James, the doyenne of the detective novel, produced an unusually overweight, windy novel this year. Danger bells rang but I am glad to announce that the detective novel is still alive and well in Mr Ormerod's skilful hands.

Black Ice by Colin Dunne is a spy thriller. The hero, Sam Craven, a journal- ist is sent to Iceland when his ex-girlfriend Solrun, a top Icelandic model starts to behave in an odd manner. Nobody tells Sam what he is to do or what the trouble is. Apparently he is supposed to act as a catalyst. He does. After a happy night together she vanishes and he is hit on the head. The story is complicated and excit- ing. Sam is an amusing hero. He soon realises that Solrun is mixed up in some devious Soviet plot to discredit the Amer- ican base stationed in Iceland. Solrun has acquired a baby and a wedding ring, in that order, but who is the husband and who the father? There are three contenders for principle man in her life — a glamorous Soviet diplomat, an American G.I. and an Icelandic-American illiterate psychopath. Deaths pile up very satisfactorily. Torture and fisticuffs play their part and it becomes increasingly difficult to tell foe from friend. The plot becomes a little unstuck towards the end with the appearance of a fey old woman and Solrun making an unlikely midnight appearance in Sam's bedroom only to vanish after asking some porten- tous questions. The ending is also a little absurd as all the blood and gore turns out to be about very little but until it began to unravel it was both exciting and teasing.

Antonia Fraser's Jemima Shore's First Case and Other Stories are controlled atmospheric pieces. Half of them are Jemi- ma Shore stories, starting with an engaging one in which Jemima as a school-girl uncovers dubious activities going on in the school chapel. Others unfold the case of a missing bride in Venice, a deadly swim- ming accident and the identity of some identical twins. Others still have a sardonic tension not entirely unlike those of Saki. The style might be rougher but the build up and punch are wickedly delivered.

Dick Lochte is a newcomer to the detective thriller but in Serendipity Dahl- quist his 14-year-old sleuth and Leo Blood- worth, the private eye she teams up with has hit on a winning combination. In Sleeping Dog Serendipity, an eccentric and precocious Los Angeles know-all child, tries to hire Bloodworth, a middle-aged, battle-scarred, woman-scarred, hard drink- ing softie to find her missing dog. Blood- worth is not interested but, after his partner is murdered, Serendipity has him involved in a hunt for her ne'er-do-well mother and her sinister boyfriend as dog and bodies pile up around them. The narrative is told in alternative chapters by each of them. Serendipity's grandmother is incapaci- tated, Bloodworth is fed to wolves, Seren- dipity is kidnapped, while as for the dog . . . Altogether it is a highly enjoyable debut and I look forward to meeting this odd pair again.

Jeremiah Healy's second novel The Tethered Goat comes as a slight disappoint- ment after his first, Blunt Darts. It starts off well enough with Cuddy, Mr Healy's widowed Bostonian private detective in- vestigating the death of a Vietnam veteran Buddy, who was tortured to death in an hotel room. Soon he is researching the shady goings-on in Vietnam of a decade ago as attempts are made to kill him and people in high places in Washington try to shut him up. It is well-plotted until the last couple of chapters where it falls into absurdity. A pity.