MARGERY ALLINGHAM – Tether’s End.   Doubleday, US, hardcover, 1958. First published in the UK as Hide My Eyes: Chatto & Windus, hardcover, 1958. Also published in the US as Ten Were Missing: Dell, 1961. Other US paperback editions include Macfadden-Bartell, 1970; Bantam, 1983.

   Allingham creates a tremendously creepy, cozy-strange atmosphere in the neighborhood around a tiny London square, and a creepy, colorful murderer to match, but this is not up to Allingham’s standard.

   Campion is barely present, which isn’t necessarily a problem, but the crime is solved in large part by Campion and various police officers (who are impossible to tell apart) practicing amateur psychology that doesn’t make a lick of sense.

   Older books in the series are better.