Tailspin

Seasoned war novelist Hunter ( The Blue Max ) won't win many new fans with this uneven caper. Just four months after V-E Day, at least seven bombers, 400 HE bombs and 1000 cases of ammo have disappeared from American stockpiles. To complicate the puzzle, someone is transfering captured Nazi pilots to an unauthorized detainment camp in Italy. Is this an American plot okayed by President Truman to detail the secretly advancing Communist forces? Or a Stalinist scheme to make the Allies appear to be breaking their treaty, thus giving Russia carte blanche to invade all of Europe? Or is some crazed general, aided by profit-hungry capitalists, doing his utmost to keep his job in a time of peace? Those nearing the answer are violently put out of commission. All, that is, except Major Kaufmann, a feminist by 1940s Army standards: he likes women because they are ``a very great deal . . . smarter than men and are not nearly so profane and smelly.'' These intelligent ladies are, however, given dialogue like ``I don't wee-wee when I'm nervous, damn it!'' and ``Stick it up your heinie, Fatso.'' When not inciting clever repartee, Kaufmann leans towards philosophizing (e.g., ``Adolf realized there's a Nazi lurking in everyone, for proof one need only to drive in rush-hour traffic.'') (July)