No kissing, just telling

detectives who put temptation in the way of the husbands and wives of

suspicious partners.

DO YOU trust your husband? If you don't, you could test his fidelity

by employing a professional temptress to set a trap. It's a service now

on offer in this country -- at a price of up to #500.

Private detective Phillip Mannix is one of a handful of people

offering the ''folly by dolly bird'' test. But beware -- he also offers

the Checkmate service to husbands who suspect their wives of straying.

''People come to us and say: 'I want to be sure I can trust my wife or

husband','' he explains.

''We can arrange an 'opportunity' and check out if the husband would

take it. No sex is involved -- things don't go that far.''

Opportunity takes the shapely form of a gorgeous blonde woman who

smiles, offers her phone number, maybe makes a date. Conversations are

secretly taped.

''We tailor the occasion to suit,'' says Mannix. ''If the husband

likes redheads we lay on a redhead. If we are informed that he has a

drink at a particular pub after work, then that's a good place to set

the trap. You have to stage manage things.

''We have a list of people -- of varying builds, types and hair

colours -- we can call on when we need them. The females include office

workers. The males include keep-fit fans, some are hunks, some are

middle-aged men who look well-to-do and affluent. He might make contact

by offering to push the supermarket trolley.

''We always use respectable people. We make sure they understand their

job and don't go over the top. They must not be too provocative.''

So who uses this service? On the whole it is wives in the 20 to 35 age

group. But well-to-do business people, worried about their money passing

to an undeserving spouse, also make checks. And sometimes it's a chap's

in-laws!

Philip Mannix says: ''You'd be amazed -- we get all sorts. In-laws ask

us to look into a son-in-law because he is giving their daughter a bad

time. They ask me to find out if he would cheat. Sometimes we check on

the wife because in-laws think she is just out for what she can get.

Sometimes it is prospective in-laws wanting to know if the boy or girl

is likely to be unfaithful.

''We tread a delicate tightrope. The mere fact that we are putting

someone in front of them is a bit unfair. They may never have done

anything like it before.

''I warn clients: 'You have got to be 100 per cent sure before you do

this. Presented with an attractive woman, if your husband happens to

slip up and ask her out for a meal, it can cause your marriage to go

down the drain for no reason at all'.''

Sometimes Mannix suspects the wife is just looking for an excuse for

divorce. ''After 25 years as a detective I've become a good

psychologist,'' grins Mannix, who set himself up as a detective the

morning after an inspirational television programme. Now he has a string

of Midlands detective agencies working in Britain and in Spain,

particularly along the ''costa del crime''.

In that time he can't recall a single case of a woman's suspicions

being unfounded. ''Women have intuition,'' he says.

From the day she married, one woman put a tiny piece of paper inside

each of her husband's socks each morning. She would check each night to

see if they were still there -- then she would know he hadn't pulled

them off.

''Going through his pockets and checking the car milometer is common.

A woman measures the exact distance from home to work and, if there are

too many miles on the clock, she knows he has deviated from his usual

route.

''One wife found that every Friday, instead of his usual seven miles,

her husband did a journey of 11 miles. We checked him out. He wasn't

seeing a woman -- he was seeing a man!''

So what happens when a husband falls for the femme fatale? First the

wife gets a telephone report of the incident. If required, a written

report will follow. The fee is up to #250. And then?

''Some women do nothing,'' says Mannix. ''Some start divorce

proceedings. Some say thank you very much, on the strength of that I

feel free to go out and do the same! Exceptionally, the wife puts all

her husband's belongings on the lawn and throws him out.''

Mannix is not the only one offering man-trap services, now quite

common in the United States.

Sasha Hutchinson runs Decoy Dolls, an all-woman outfit specifically

designed to catch philandering menfolk. She charges #250 for checking

the man out, a further #250 in final settlement if the decoy makes

contact and sets up another date.

That's as far as it goes. If the wife wants to confront her husband at

the illicit rendezvous -- that's her business.

Sasha set up Decoy Dolls after being asked by a solicitor to check out

a husband who was advertising himself in a lonely hearts column. She

answered his ad and discovered his bizarre personal life involving

transvestism.

She now employs other women as ''lures''. As well as being a private

eye, Sasha, 40 and unmarried, is a third-year university student reading

for a psychology degree.

The Association of British Investigators is uneasy about using

''plants''. It could constitute ''entrapment''. Relate is equally

unhappy with this ''playing with fire.''

Marriage counsellor Denise Knowles says: ''Deceit and traps are not

good ways to tackle problems in a relationship. They will only lead to

more hurt.

''I would advise a suspicious wife to try to open up lines of

communication, maybe confront her husband outright with her suspicions.

''There are a multitude of things the couple could talk about before

going to the lengths of hiring a detective. That's the last thing to

do.''