AN interesting comparison of murder as committed in various stratas of society may be obtained by reading "The Corpse in the Constable's Garden" and "The Westminster Mystery." The locale of the first is the little county of Brigshire, England; where life is langourous if slightly boring, where there is time for tea between questionings, and where the victim is smothered and the body laid comfortably in a sheriff's flower patch. In "The Westminster Mystery", the reader is caught in the mad rush of modern life. A Hollywood cinema idol is slain and his death becomes the cue for a grisly set of suicides and murder.

"The Corpse in the Constable's Garden" is a story frankly intended for those who like their crime in easy doses with sugar and water. Country parsons, irate squires, several drab daughters, and a handful of good-natured college lads make up the personnel. There is only one death, which is rather late in coming, and most of the 295 pages are given to the narration of family scandals, repressed emotions, and a few glimpses of what a parson's past can be.

Perhaps the main feature of "The West minister Mystery" is the characterization of the gruff and laboring detective, Inspector Reynolds of Scotland Yard. This perspiring individual works his way through a series of murders, suicides, and man-hunts without any of the dilettantism of the modern school of gentleman sleuths. Despite his ignorance of Egyptian sculpture or criminal psychology, the inspector keeps the show well in hand. The center problem for solution is one of proving innocence. The most naive tyro might guess that the hands of Laureen, lovely revue star and suspect, are unstained by crime but it takes a masterly piece of detecting to clear her of the web of indicting circumstance.

Neither book will win its author or co-authors fame. "The Corpse in the Constable's Garden" is mild to the point of blandness and while "The Westminster Mystery" is more adapted to the taste of crime blood-hounds and includes bits of staccato action, it will not overly enthrall the connoisseur.