None the Worse for a Hanging

In his 19th novel written under the pseudonym Ross (Murder Be Hanged), ex-detective chief superintendent John Rossiter plunges his lonely, cantankerous British detective superintendent George Rogers into a literate, brooding mystery. When Rogers is called to the scene of a hanging, he is reluctant to pronounce the death a suicide. For one thing, he knows from the body's state that it's been moved from house to garage. High on the list of suspects is the man's live-in lover, who moved out months ago and whom his grown children detest. Locating her, however, turns out to be tricky and involves talking to an ex-con, now a nightclub owner for whom she worked. Libidos and loneliness complicate the investigation as the divorced Rogers is attracted both to a female colleague (who in turn may be seeing more of the nightclub owner than she lets on) and to the widowed neighbor of the dead man. There's more than a whiff of Inspector Morse coming from Rogers, but Ross is a shade less deft than Colin Dexter at revealing layers of character hidden in his taciturn, isolated hero. (Dec.)