NOVELS OF TO-DAY

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 68, 29 September 1928, Page 21

NOVELS OF TO-DAY

' A VARIED LOT A very extraordinary story is told in the first chapter of'this novel, "The Man Who Laughed," by Gerald Fairlie (London: Hodder and Stoughton). A criminal sends a warning to Scotland Yard that at a certain time he means to institute a series of robberies throughout England and the Continent. He announces that he is to be known as "The Octopus," and sends a small visiting card with one of the loathsome creatures realistically represented iv colour. At the end of each tentacle is a picture or coat of arms of the place in which he intends to operate. Scotland Yard engages a specialist in detective work, Victor Caryll, to take charge of the Octopus and his doings, and he in his turn goes to sco John Ackland, a friend who had helped him in very difficult operations during the war. Ackland arrives at home to find Caryll wailing for him. When the explanation of what he has come about is finished, both are startled by a most fiendish laugh. They search the house, only to find that an unfortunate manservant has been murdered, for no particular reason, so far as appears, unless it is to show that the Octopus meant to murder whoever came in his way. The story develops on startling lines, the most unlikely element .being that Joan Anstruther, who is engaged to Ackland, is allowed by the, inpn to enter into the dangers, and with them nearly loses her life more than once. However, if the whole story is. unlikely, it is none the less interesting to those who revel in detective yarns of the most vivid description. Dope and Romance. "Tho Maker of Frocks," by Edward C. Davies (London: Hodder aud Stoughton), fairly bristles with dramatic situations, ama-ing dangers, and tense moments. Tho novel deals with the drug traffic and the abduction of a charming English girl, Lady Mary Worcester, who leaves home, Werriek Hall, in England, one evening for the post (instead of sending a maid) and vanishes. The best brains "in tho country fail to find any clue, until Dennis Malcolm, an ex-army officer interested in crime, by instinct stumbles upon a thread! This leads him to Paris, meeting M. Louis Rouin, nicknamed "The Father of Fashion." Dennis is assisted in his work of tracing' Lady Mary (whose photograph has profoundly affested the unimpressionable heart of the amateur detective) by a mysterious veiled lady. His intuition leads him into amazing crimes. Hot on the scent, he refuses to give up, despite the fact that his life is iv clangor, for he is dealing with a master criminal of international power. The unmasking of Rouin makes hair-raising reading. The love story between Dennis and Lady Mary completes tho harmony between reader and author. This is a cleverly constructed talc that is appealing to intellect and affections. Love in the Circus. "Tho Lion Tamer," by E. M. Hull (London: Eveleigh Nash and Grayson, Ltd., through Dymock's, Sydney), is a highly romantic story of circus life, told by the writer of "The Sheik" and similar tales. It is written in this well-known novelist's best stylo. Juan, the lion tamer, is a fine figure of youth. Ho is attracted to the girl, Paul, who is a »ewcomer to Marqueray's circus in an equestrian turn. Her employer is a man of fiendish passions, and tho girl's life is endless misery. Juan's tenderness is resented at first, but after one of the most violont outbursts of her employer she seeks Juan's protection. Paul likes the Hon tamer, but does not love him,though she is quite, prepared to marry him if it means' rescue from her unhappy existence. Ladowski, another circus performer, wins Paul away from Juan by a trick, in which he is_as- j sisted by another artist, a • low-class woman. Through" an ' interesting sequence of events the young couple wiu out to happiness. The circus episodes are crammed full of entertainment, and the novel is most readable.