WITH THE DETECTIVES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 235, 3 October 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

WITH THE DETECTIVES.

In Another Man's Shoes" (Jenkins), is a mystery yarn from the pen of M L. Eades, the author of The "Tawnv Desert." A young man, Geoffrey Granville, has been brought up as heir to his uncle. Refusing to acccde to the old gentleman's desire that he should marry a certain lady, ho is turned adrift. Hungry and penniless in a London street, he makes the acquaintance of a stranger who is almost his double, and, after lunching with him. undertakes reluctantly, and" in a spirit of adventure, to impersonate him at a fancy dress affair. During the social function there are strange happenings at his uncle's place in Surrey, including the disappearance of his uncle. He is suspected of having dono away with him. From now on the story becomes a thriller. It is an ingenious yarn, and is well written.

jft was something of a refinement of torture which, after the disappearance of her wastrel husband, left Meg O'lTara in doubt as to whether ho was in hiding or had been done to death. "Dead or Alive," by Patricia AVent worth (Ilodder and Stoughton) propounds and unravels this mystery. It is a galloping story— a gallop over open country with plenty of hurdles and wire to take in our stride. Hie writer is an experienced mystery maker and she plays the game as it should be played, giving the reader the appropriate clues and following them up herself to a logical explanation. The characterisation is well done, interest is aroused in the first chapter and is never allowed to flag. Meg O'Hara had been carried ofT her feet by a glib-tongued suitor; her lover of an earlier day l eiui ned from Chili, hoping to marrv her, but finding her harried by a series of messages supposed to come* from her husband, declaring that he was alive. His death had already been certified by the Secret Service, to whom he was attached, and an inquest had been held on his body. But the messages were just of the type that the husband would have left, and Meg was in a maze of doubt till three mysteries were cleared up at one fell swoop in the final chap*or". "Read or Alive" is of the type which insists 011 immediate attention.'