NO POIROT

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21198, 23 June 1934, Page 15

NO POIROT

Inspector Higgins Sees It Through. By Cecil Freeman Gregg. Methuen. 274 pp. The Listerdale Mystery. By Agatha Christie. W. Collins Sons and Co., Ltd. 251 pp. Mr Gregg begins beautifully with a carefully planned raid on a jeweller's safe. When the cracksmen get it open, they find the body of the inside man who had prepared the way for them; and in their flight it is poor, amiable Beefy who is betrayed, deserted, and left to be tried and sentenced for murder. He gives little away; but that little, with what he ferrets out for himself, enables Inspector Higgins (a good fellow, though no Poirot in intellect) to uncover, gradually, all the facts, free the nice burglar, and unmask a very daring, unscrupulous villain. The story is richer in thrills than in reason, certainly, but has enough of the second to bind it. Mrs Christie's latest is a gathering of short stories, a few of which are genuine detective stories, the rest ingenious little thrillers. Mrs Christie does not hesitate to hinge—and double hinge—her plots on coincidence; in fact, she is fond of it. She is also good at it. But there is no Poirot here; and even Mrs Christie herself seems to miss him.

AIR TOURING FOR FUN The Scarlet Angel. By Alban All. Duckworth. 212 pp. (10/6 net.) Travelling for fun is best done in a light aeroplane, especially when the traveller's route lies between interesting places. Flying gives time such an advantage over distance that a long stop at a town which offers attractions does not bring the penalty of a late arrival at the end of the journey. The air traveller, too. is the only person privileged to see a different world from the one we have all known since we have been able to walk; and if the traveller is pilot too, care for navigation will prevent him from watching the scenery long enough to be bored by it.

It is consequently not to be wondered that Mr Alban Ali, an Englishman living in Assam, enjoyed the flight he made from Silchar to near Cairo in an attempt to fly home on leave. But Mr Alban Ali is a Government official, and the brightness of the book in which he describes the flight (over-brightness sometimes) is therefore a pleasant surprise. Mr Ali's flight ended in Egypt, where his engine stopped and demanded a complete overhaul. Considering the way he had thrashed it before he really began the flight, putting up second fastest time in the Viceroy's Cup race, that is not to the discredit of the little Pobjoy with which his Comper Swift was fitted. Mr Ali realises" that and is grateful to the engine for not stopping on any one of the long stretches where a failure would have been the end of him. Flying people will find the book add to their admiration of the aeroplane and engine, and will congratulate Mr Ali on doing so well with so little flying experience. Others will find plenty in the book to interest them, for Mr Ali is as observant on the ground as in the air, and the route he covered is full of interest. Incidentally much of the journey was done in company with Mr Stead, who, though Mr Ali does not mention it, is a New Zealander.