Books: Murder in April

GOOD NIGHT, SHERIFF—Harrison R. Sfeeves—Random House ($2). Dr. Patterson, insurance-company investigator, goes to the log and deer country where Agnes Earlie, wife of a local doctor, has been shot with a high-power, steel-jacketed rifle bullet. Finding no motive in $20,000 insurance, Patterson becomes Dr. Earlie's guest, quietly garners enough circumstantial evidence to convict the Doctor or any one of several people who loved and respected Mrs. Earlie. A first-rate story, it is short on blood, long on plot and psychology.

THE PUZZLE OF THE HAPPY HOOLIGAN —Stuart Palmer—Crime Club ($2). Hildegarde Withers, the school-teacher whose detective powers have for many years shamed...