Books: Know Thy Children

RACHEL WEEPING (213 pp.)—Shelley Smith—Harper ($3.50).

One of the hardest of all literary doors to force is the one that leads into the world of childhood. It is only fitting that the latest writer to try it is a mystery novelist. Shelley Smith's U.S. publisher is devoted to keeping her identity a mystery. But Mrs. Nancy Bodington does not mind identifying herself. She is a lady in her 40s who has used the pseudonym Shelley Smith for "mysteries because she wanted to save her real name for "the kind of books I wanted to write, such as Rachel Weeping." On the strength...