"The Triple Mystery" (Dodd, Mead), by Adele Luehrmann, contains all the necessary ingredients for the proper detective-thriller salad. There are enough murders (three) to give body, with tasty additions of diamond mines, dark-skinned strangers, secret service men, and lovely intrigues. The required dash of the bizzarre is obtained through the introduction of a coke-addict and a squirrel cap. Of course, the volume would seem more pleasing if the old theme of the opera singer and the wily conductor were not made so prominent, but the absence of the traditional sleuth with his magnifying glass is enough of a relief to make one forget this trifling triteness.

If not read with too critical an eye "The Triple Mystery" is satisfactorily mystifying. The leading characters drink Today frequently, the butlers are all impassive, and the women are, without exception, beautiful. And most important of all, the solution is never apparent until the last page. D. W. B.