John Charles, the central character of One More River, bears more than a passing resemblance to his creator, that sly devil Nicolas Freeling. Both are 70-year-old British writers of crime fiction living in France. Did somebody fire a rifle at Freeling one soft summer night, as they do at Charles? "One doesn"t know when a book might suddenly start; taking one by surprise," Charles writes in his ever-present notebook after the bullet whizzes by his head. The notebook becomes the center of the story, veering from third-person narrative to first-person confessional as Charles tries to escape from and uncover the people who burn down his house and who kill another man who looks remarkably like him. Does it have something to do with his work, especially past investigations into real-life assassinations? Or is it more personal--an ex-wife or mistress or even an offspring avenging some real or imagined wrong? Freeling keeps us in suspense just long enough to get us firmly hooked, then uses his unique amalgam of British heart and French brain to bring us home. Other examples of his artistry in paperback include A Dwarf Kingdom, The Seacoast of Bohemia, and You Who Know.