Books: February Mysteries

Of last month's 22, the following stood out as best bets:

SOME BURIED CAESAR — Rex Stout—Farrar & Rinehart ($2). Attempted barbecue of a championship bull cooks the goose of two upState New Yorkers. Not expert-proof, but Nero Wolf's sleuthing and Archie Goodwin's cracks make it Rex Stout's best.

MURDER TO HOUNDS—Edward Acheson—Harcourt, Brace ($2). Murder in a neurotic fox-hunting Virginia family, combining an innocuous love story with the most engaging Englishman in recent crime fiction.

SOME DAY I'LL KILL You—Dana Chambers—Dial ($2). Murder and mayhem in the Connecticut countryside. Fast and witty, despite the...