THE BRIGHT NEMESISJohn GuntherBobbs-Merrill ($2).
Hiding the glaring impossibilities of their plots behind the still more glaring unreality of their characters is a prerogative of mystery writers that constitutes many a mystery writer's entire stock-in-trade. A welcome exception is Author Gunther, who peoples his well-written murder story with characters recognizably alive. So lively are they, so picturesque is the Balkan political turmoil in which they agitate, that most readers will be more interested in their daily doings than in discovering which one of them murdered the two American boys. Just out of college,...