ALPHABET HICKSRex StoutFarrar & Rinehort ($2). Clever alibi-busting by wily ex-lawyer detective clears up murders in a plastics laboratory near New York. Hicks is a worthy addition to the Stout sleuth-stable (other occupants: Nero Wolfe, Tecumseh Fox).
ENVIOUS CASCAGeorgette Heyer Crime Club ($2). Variation on two familiar detective-story themesthe English-house -party-where - everybody-hates-his-neighbor, and the corpse-in-the-room-locked-from-the-inside. Pungent dialogue and A-1 characterization make up for certain small shortcomings in the plot.
DOUBLE OR QUITSA. A. Fair< Morrow ($2). Accidental poisoning of a California doctor looks queer to pint-sized Donald Lam, who clears it up in...