Books: Crime in August

VERDICT OF TWELVE—Raymond Post-gate—Crime Club ($2). In the trial of Mrs. van Beer for the poisoning of her nephew, the verdict has nothing to do with the evidence. It is formed out of the past lives of the jurors themselves—among them a murderess, a religious fanatic, a Greek who pretends he was born to the Old School Tie.

MAYHEM IN B-FiAT—Elliot Paul—Random House ($2). Moritz the miraculous Boxer (a dog) makes his debut with the familiar cast of Homer Evans, detective, dead-eye Miriam, Inspector Fremont and his dusky Hydrangea, Hjalmar Jansen the crockery smasher, the Singe, Godo the Whack, et al., roister-doistering from Paris to Rouen and back by water, land and haystack. Funniest murder story yet from veteran Mr. Paul, whose higher-browed books include The Life & Death of a Spanish Town.

MAIGRET ABROAD—Georges Sime-non—Harcourf, Brace ($2). In Holland, the imperturbable Inspector Maigret deals with a crime of passion: the popping off of philandering Popinga. Maigret makes his pick and hands the case to Detective Pijpekamp for the kill. Proceeding then to Belgium, Maigret solves a murder at the Gai-Moulin in Liege. Principal actors are Adele, a danseuse, and two ne'er-do-well youths, always broke.

ACCOUNT RENDERED—Patricia Went-worth—Lippincott ($2). Lucas Dale, of shady past and noisy-rich present, gets properly murdered when he tries to marry Susan Lenox. She wanted Bill Carrick. Twenty-eighth Wentworth mystery, this one is clever, English, flawless.