Books: Suspense on the Thames

THE LONG MEMORY (256 pp.)—Howard Clewes—Doubleday ($2.75).

When Philip Davidson was sprung from prison after doing 17 years, there were a few Londoners who had a right to feel uneasy. Davidson had been sent up for a murder he did not commit, and two witnesses who might have established his innocence had remained inexplicably silent. So the police kept an eye on Philip Davidson. Commander Lowther, detective in charge, had a special interest in the case. His wife had once been Davidson's mistress, and one of the two witnesses who failed him.

The Long Memory is a "suspense" story, one of that rapidly...