THE MAMUR ZAPT AND THE DONKEY-VOUS

Pearce hits his stride with this third tale of Gereth Cadwallader Owen, the Mamur Zapt (...and the Return of the Carpet, ...and the Night of the Dog) of the Anglo-Egyptian political police. The problem- -how did French contractor Octave Moulin disappear from the crowded terrace at Shepheard's Hotel without anyone noticing (and who kidnapped him, and why)?—is more interesting than before, and the mystification better focused, without any loss to Pearce's deft background portraits: from the Colthorpe Hartleys—two useless witnesses, a devoted wife and an irrepressible daughter, covering for a blind-drunk father who shortly becomes a second kidnapping victim— to those courteous terrorists, the Zawia Group (or is it the Wekil Group?) to the donkey-boys who must know more about these disappearances than they're saying. If you're not expecting a whodunit—as usual, there are no big surprises saved for the end—this is as charming a historical mystery as you'll find this summer.