August Mysteries

THE PINK UMBRELLA --Frances Crane-- J. B, Lippincott ($2). Honeymooning in Manhattan, San Francisco Sleuth Pat Abbott encounters an acquaintance of Paris expatriate days and is plunged into the torrid troubles of a quarrelsome clan, culminating in double murders. Abbott's frequent clashes with a babyfaced, steel-willed police lieutenant enliven a tightly plotted, brightly told tale, with an unexpected finish.

DOUBLE TRAGEDY--Freeman Wills Crofts-- Dodd, Mead ($2). A run-with-the-hare and hunt-with-the-hounds affair in which a hard-up English business man murders his wife's rich uncle, and covers his tracks from everybody but the patient and methodical Inspector French, who provides a first-class exercise in clue chasing and deduction.

MURDER RENTS A ROOM -- Sara Elizabeth Mason-- Crime Club ($2). A Yankee boarder at a down-at-heel Alabama plantation helps a slow but sure Southern sheriff unriddle two murders that disrupt the peace of a poor, proud family. Crime, romance, authentic Southern atmosphere and rule-of-thumb detecting are satisfac torily mixed.

WITHOUT LAWFUL AUTHORITY -- Manning Coles -- Crime Club ($2). A prewar adventure in Nazi spy-chasing with Tommy Hambledon, hero of Drink to Yesterday, etc., sharing honors with a vengeful ex-Tank Corps officer and a debonair safecracker. Explosive action all the way, with a pitched battle in an English insane asylum to top it off. For spy-story enthusiasts, this is it.

MURDERER'S CHOICE -- Anna Mary Wells-- Knopf ($2). The enigmatical death of a rich man, who had carefully planned a suicide that would later send his hated cousin to a murderer's end, is cannily cleared up by quietly effective Miss Pomeroy, trained nurse turned detective -- and a sterling addition to the slim com pany of believable female sleuths. Extra good writing and well-sustained suspense outweigh a certain terminal haziness.

SHADOWS ON THE WALL -- Mary Reisner -- Dodd, Mead ($2). The accidental fall that killed ardently admired Lawyer Frost looked like a purposeful push after investigation by a district at torney with a weakness for sultry females. Several of the murderer's house guests are implicated, also an ex-gangster neighbor -- who becomes the catalytic agent that settles a seething emotional brew. The first murder is self-solving; a second death is anybody's guess. Tantalizing, turbulent.

O AS IN OMEN -- Lawrence Treaf --Duell, Sloan and Pearce ($2). The sudden death of a cook turns the rural week end of Psychologist Carl Wayward and his wife into a murder investigation that involves extrasensory perception, precognitive dreams, psychiatry and unadorned violence in its suspenseful course. Not altogether convincing, but notable for crispness and novelty.

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