Books: The 9 O'Clock Walk

YIELD TO THE NIGHT (190 pp.)—Joan Henry—Doubleday ($2.75).

Mary Hilton knew she probably would not choke to death. She knew the knot and the drop would break her neck and that they would leave her hanging for an hour to be sure that she was dead. Then she thought of Jim, of her face become black and blue, of her "tongue protruding from dry lips that he once kissed." "O God," she thought, "take me out of this terrible place ... I can't go on. I can't stand it . . ."

For killing her lover's other mistress in cold blood, Mary Hilton...