We do love a man in a uniform, but the "Constables" in question are not policemen but paintings the landscapes, specifically, of the 19th-century painter John Constable. Agatha Troy (the artist wife, you ll remember, of Inspector Alleyn) has a special fondness for Constable s work, so she jumps at the chance to take a river-cruise through "Constable Country" in the east of England. Her enthusiasm dims a little when it becomes clear that the ticket became available at the last minute only because a previous passenger was murdered in his cabin and murdered, it seems, by a notorious...

In 1968 Ngaio Marsh took her own Roman holiday (in part to research Italian police procedures) and the change seems to have done her good: Both her British and U.S. agents believed When in Rome to be the finest novel in her "Inspector Alleyn" series. As is so often (and so satisfyingly) the case, the tale concerns a murder within a closed group in this case, a group of tourists visiting what Marsh calls the "Basilica di San Tommaso," who find themselves fumbling into a complex web of blackmail and drug-smuggling. Adding some irresistible color are depictions of both La Dolce Vita (of which...

Ng ombwana is a (fictional) African nation to have emerged in the wake of colonialism; as it happens, its President is Inspector Alleyn s old school chum, the "Boomer." Old school ties being what they are, the Boomer making an official visit to London insists that Alleyn handle his security, rather than Her Majesty s Special Branch. The Special Branch is not best pleased about this, as the Boomer is known to have some very deadly enemies, and the threats only increase when the Ng ombwanan ambassador is killed. Happily for the Boomer, not only is Alleyn up to the task, but he is assisted by...