Books: Beastly Affairs

ON THE YANKEE STATION by William Boyd

Morrow; 217 pages; $12.95

William Boyd's leading men tend to be ham-fisted brutes in a state of eternal frustration. Their weighty (245 Ibs.) prototype is Morgan Leafy, the splenetic diplomat at the center of Boyd's first novel, A Good Man in Africa. That account of coming of age in western Africa, published in the U.S. two years ago when Boyd was 30, certified him as a connoisseur of twits and cads. It also showcased Boyd's gift for spinning out old-fashioned tales that bounce along as smartly as a scriptwriter on holiday. Now, in his first collection...

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