Mysteries of the Month

Of last month's 13 mysteries, five stood out as best bets:

Too MANY COOKS--Rex Stout--Farrar & Rinehart ($2). Smooth concoction of crime and cooking in which Nero Wolfe, assisted by faithful, wisecracking Archie Goodwin, solves the murder of one of the world's 15 best chefs.

ROPE ENOUGH--John Stephen Strange --Crime Club ($2). News Cameraman Barney Gantt stumbles into the middle of a death struggle between a corrupt New York political machine and a reform group which results in three murders. Dialogue: good. Action: exciting. Plot: middling.

ONCE Too OFTEN--Whitman Chambers--Doubleday, Doran ($2). Murder involving San Francisco newsmen and beautiful but callous columnist. Highly recommended to admirers of tough-guy mysteries.

LAMENT FOR A MAKER--Michael Innes --Dodd, Mead ($2). A poet-madman, lord of gloomy Castle Erchany, is found dead at the foot of his castle tower. Ingenious plot; scholarly, leisurely style; copious Scottish dialect.

THEY CAN'T HANG ME--James Ronald --Crime Club ($2). Ex-newspaper publisher, shut up in an asylum for 18 years as a homicidal maniac, escapes with the intention of murdering the men who had him locked up. Clever plot, spiced with humor.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.