March Mysteries

Three best bets among last month's 14 detective stories:

STRAWSTACK--Dorothy Cameron Disney--Random House ($2). A conservative Vermont spinster buys a swank Maryland farm, regrets it when she finds herself involved in three horrible murders. Cleverly-constructed story in the Mary Roberts Rinehart tradition.

BLOW-DOWN--Lawrence G. Blochman --Harcourt, Brace ($2). Death, destruction and international intrigue on a Caribbean banana plantation. First-rate plot, pace and background. (Appearing serially in Collier's as The Resounding Skies.)

MURDER MASKS MIAMI--Rufus King--Crime Club ($2). Lieutenant Valcour gets a killer who uses a murderous hypo on two unpopular women--an ultra-respectable old lady and a blackmailing young golddigger. Swift, breezy, tongue-in-cheek tale.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.