A FLASH OF GREEN

A housing development's plan to fill in the bay of a Florida small town brings aroused action, not only on the part of home-with-a-view owners, nature lovers, and do-gooders, but also Kat Hubble, whose husband has just died and who had once defeated the project. But the conservation fight seems to be a losing one this time; Elmo blackmail to outright violence. And Jimmy Wing, a newspaperman, who, in a mistaken attempt to protect Kat, is bullied by Bliss into purveying the necessary information, betrays her and is willing to lose his job, and Kat, too, in a latterday expose.... John MacDonald's readers will be able to assess the property value here; it's prefabricated but commercial, the taxation is low; and conservatives may want a few zoning restrictions.