THE SCARLET RUSE 318 pages. Fawcett. $1.25.
THE TURQUOISE LAMENT 286 pages. Lippincott. $6.95. by JOHN D. MacDONALD
An absolutely worthless novel refreshes the spirit as little else can. Reading one is the literary equivalent of retreating to the cellar with a jug. Naturally it is not easy to find a good worthless novel, but this month the reader with a November in his soul is in luck. John D. MacDonald, the nation's best writer of no-qual crime fantasies, has turned out two splendid and utterly unmeritorious volumes.
The Scarlet Ruse and The...