A novella and nine short stories comprise this book. They were collected from the papers of Anna Kavan after her death in 1968. The novella is said to have been distilled from 90,000 to 30,000 words. On the whole the collection is an admirable showcase for the writer's talent.

Whether Kavan or her literary executors are responsible for the novella's weak architecture, I don't know. I refer to the way the novella hopscotchs from one viewpoint to another. Is the story first person or third? The same confusion repeats in "Tiny Thing." John Gardner the novelist warned fiction writers about interrupting the wakening dream that is a reader's collaboration with a story. Experimentation is fine in fiction but the verities of clarity and coherence still need to be observed. A reader may not know where he'll end up in Lawrence Stern, Kafka, or Joyce but he certainly knows where he is.

The inspiration for this tale of a woman's unsuccessful search for happin! ess with a husband and then a lover is the author's own divorce and a subsequent companionship with another man. There is a saying that everyone has at least one story in him or her. That's probably true. It does not follow that every one can make fiction from an experience. Anna Kavan could.

Two facts influence most of the stories, one geographic, the social. They are set in the English milieu; they were written during the collegiate turbulent nineteen sixties. Some embody student attitudes of the period: struggle between generations, enmity toward machines, expectation that paradise lies somewhere beyond Earth. Readers are often dropped in a bleak future. In all there is the Kavan prose style, a jeweled examination of people and places.

For most of her writing career Kavan was a drug addict. Other writers suffered a similar affliction: Coleridge in the Romantic era, Capote in modern times. What astounds about Anna Kavan is that her talent did not abate. Beset ! by so debilitating a habit, she continued to produce fascin! ating novels and short stories. Were she free of addiction, would her works be more numerous, as probing? A question not easily answered. What we have, though, is enough to wish we had more.

I picked up this book partly because the blurb in the back said that he's comparable to Ruth Rendall. Unfortunately, I found him far from being comparable in a good light beyond the generics of background. I could predict how the murder would be resolved almost from the beginning, which was disappointing. The secondary characters were too one-dimensional as well. Even though the plot was predictable, the book moved at a good pace which is why I wasn't bored. I could only imagine that he has other books that are better if he's been compared to Rendall.

I can only suspect that the nay-sayers haven't read the previous books in this series. Banks is a bit like scotch whiskey - an acquired taste. Much of the pleasure in reading this book lies in knowing Banks and his supporting characters. What kind of music will Banks be "into" in this book (it changes in each book)? Will Susan Gay develop a life outside of her work? What nasty tricks will Burgess be up to in this episode? What's up with Banks' marriage and can he resist temptation one more time?

So, my advice to other readers is to invest the time in reading this series from the start. The first few books are only so-so but they lay the foundations to make later books a much enjoyed reading experience.

"Final Account" is the story of Keith Rothwell, a mild-mannered accountant who has been brutally murdered, execution-style. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, with the help of his colleagues, investigates Rothwell's shady business dealings as well as his family and social contacts. Banks discovers that Rothwell's life was a great deal more complicated than the police could ever have imagined. Once again, Peter Robinson has created a fascinating character study of a man whose outward appearance is deceptive. The book has many wonderful qualities. It is full of colorful Yorkshire characters who are brought to life in exquisite and entertaining detail. Robinson's descriptions of the beautiful English countryside are lovely. The mystery is satisfying although the ending is a bit far-fetched. I especially like the character of Inspector Banks, who has always been a man of contradictions. He is compassionate towards victims, but he can be ruthless and cruel when necessary. Although he loves his wife, he all but ignores her when he is on a case. He has little formal eduation, but he has a deep interest in music and literature. Banks is one of the most interesting of all the British detective heroes and "Final Account" is a fine mystery in the Inspector Banks series.