BEN BENSON – Beware the Pale Horse. Captain Wade Paris #2. M. S. Mill, hardcover, 1951. Bantam #1070, paperback, 1953. Wildside Press, trade paperback, 2018.

   Competent, well clued and thought out police procedural starring State Detective Wade Paris. Paris’s difficulties stem not only from trying to find out who killed both a police colleague and oriental art collector, Charles Endicott, but also from the political pressures that are put upon him to wrap things up quickly and successfully.

   This political angle is brought in most convincingly and the investigation itself is logical and systematic. The clues are spread with care and cunning and the main one I should have spotted deceived me. Short on humour, but otherwise I can find nothing to complain of in this very professional job.

   A pity (from my point of view) as it’s the first I’ve read of half a dozen Bensons I own, and I was looking for an excuse to make a small reduction in the overcrowding on my shelves. Now I’ll be looking for even more Bensons!