SOME NEW NOVELS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 79, 30 September 1933, Page 22

SOME NEW NOVELS

RASPUTIN AS HERO

The suggestion is made that tho story "The Mad Monk," a new novel by B. : T. M. Scott and published Isy Rich and Cowan, was dictated by a spirit, per- , haps by the disincarnate Rasputin him'- ' self. Be that as it may, the story is an unusually ingenious one of supernatural .and partly supernatural events,, told with dramatic power and sometimes with gruesome humour. The mad monk is Rasputin, and the story is a wholly imaginary reconstruction of Rasputin's t early career, of which nothing is known.. ' The story begins on the shores of the Caspian Sea, with Rasputin N as a dirty, starved boy. A Countess comes into contact with him through strange circumstances, and sends him to a monastery where some grisly episodes are ' enacted. Thirteen years later Rasputin is entrusted with tlie work of cataloguing .the books in the library belonging to the Countess and it is then that tlie monk's dual personality becomes apparent. The story approaches a climax when Rasputin slays half-a---dozen gypsies who attack the" Countess, and supernatural mysteries follow and 1 form an appropriate setting to the monk's final oath to bring .doom and destruction. This is an' exciting and eerie tale, of far greater merit than the average "thriller." Another exciting .story is "The Mystery of Khufu's Tomb," by Talbot Mundy, who can always be depended ' ; iupon to_ tell his tale well. The story ; begins in America, moves to Egypt, and. finishes on the banks of the Nile in. the underwater tomb of Cheops, who. (according to Mr. Mundy and other, authorities, including Herodotus) built i the Great Pyramid merely as a blind; to conceal his real resting place. The; : book is .full of exciting episodes and' however improbable some may be, they are described with a. brevity and crispness which disarms criticism. ; . THE SCAELET PIMPERNEL. Lovers of Baroness Orezy's favourite hero will rejoice to meet him again in: "The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel" : .(Hodder and Stoughton), as .gay, .debonair, and charming :as ever. Armand : Chauvelin appears .also, .still striving to : get the better -of his loathed, elusive i enemy, and perhaps, it is needless to : say, failing as ignoTniniously as bofore. Maitre de Croissy, a "lawyer whose ; former splendid, practice has dwindled ; almost to nothing during the early days ' '. of the Terror, is murdered by some :of the loaders of the Revolution be- ; cause he has in his possession some, compromising , letters, sufficient to bring them all to the guillotine. Before his : death instinct causes liim to hand the ■• packet over to his wife. The Scarlet Pimpernel succeeds in .getting,Madame de Croissy away to England, together ; with the letters. She leaves behind her ■her foster-sister, Josette Gravicr, under; the protection of Maurice Reversac, a; young lawyer formerly in her lnisTjand 's1 office. The day comes when Maurice is arrested and thrown into prison, whereupon Josette threatens one of the Terrorist leaders that unless he is set at liberty she will publish the letters. He! bargains with her. to bring him the' documents in exchange for her lover's . life. Josette travels to England and tells hor story to Madame de Groissy, who (.gives her the letters. On her return" journey across France they are • , stolen irom her and .she is also thrown into prison. The situation is one entirely after Sir Percy Blakeney 's -own heart, and magnificently lie manages it. ' "Bitter Grass," by Russell A. Bank-; , .son .(Hodder and Stoughton,),, is a "Wild West" story of swiftly moving i action, .murder, theft, and fair play and j foul, providing excitement in quan- I tity. A man with a past figures an "Men^ ' for Counters," by Gerald Fairlie (Hod-? der and Stoughton). There is also a man, with a creed that money will buy everything. Tho duel between the tw» 1 -concerned the happiness of a girl,' and the man with a past found that to have a past is not always a disadvantage. This is quite an exciting story for ifLle moments. / TANGLED LOVE AFFAIRS. The heroine -of "Understudy,"''by '. Berta Ruck (Hodder and Stoughton), forced by circumstances into pretending that she was engaged to her sifter's i fiance, intended to keep up the dtecepi tion for one evening only, but one/thing i after another happened to compel /her to J keep on playing the part. Aga&nst a ; kaleidoscopic background <of all'kinds of people, first in London and fien in Paris and elsewhere, four young^ people arrange their destinies before the curtain falls. I . In "One-way Traffic," by-/ R. C. Ashby: (Hodder and Stoughton), a typical London family faces ttie conditions of modern life, threatened by trade depressions, political i/pheavals, and .similar disturbing influences. The girl Tims a hat shop and tries to v compromise between sentiment/and'business efficiency; one boy runs a boys' club and rebels against socia/1 injustice; and another boy runs an expensive love affair on no job at all, but *then he has a talent for making other;, people pay. But a man from Burma atomes on the : scene, and he demonstrateeiithat to live one must see the stars. : I ■ The fortunes of severjjfl second-rate : bright young people, whose chief preoccupations seem to be aioney and sex, are detailed in "FortMboming Marriages," by Mary'Lutyeis (John Murray). However., there is fono nice young' lady with whose feeling, after drinking two glasses of champagne at her wedding breakfast, . fchiat "Trying to control her mind felt rather like leading a jelly-fish on a j^iece of elastic" most of us can sympathise. The Book Society ijecommends "The Gowk -Storm," by NVBrysson Morrison (Collins). This is m, story of revolt against the narrow Oreed of Calvanism, and is. pleasantly tfclcT. "The House That Was," by Netja Syrett (Rich' and, Cowan), may also be recommended as a pleasantly-told tale;. RECENT THRILLERS. Two members <»f a firm building a new harbour on jthe South Coast of England hear tha# a gang of crooks is to rob their''representatives when they < take a large sum, of money to pay their : workmen. A private detective receives an anonymous lejtter warning him of the '. i ■ ,

hold-up and of a mysterious blue car. The private detective and a friend follow the bine car, -which leads them eventually to a house in which they find a young man dead! He has been murdered. Who murdered him is revealed towards the end of "Follow the Blue, Car," by E. A. J. Walling.(Hodder and Stoughton). When three men die sudden deaths after proposing to an heiress, and a fourth narrowly escapes the same fate, it is obvious that all is not as it should be. In "Other Man's Danger," by Maxwell March (Collins), this theme is exploited to provide a splendid mystery story, for the fourth man happens to be a very clever criminologist. Entertaining and exciting stories, which can be recommended, are "Secret Service Girl," by J. M. Walsh (Collins), and "Gentleman Crook," by Sheila Graham (Rich and Cowan). "The Affair at Aliquid," by CD. H. and M. Cole, is a Crime Club publication and provides a gay mystery story of merit, and a very humorous story in which crooks figure is "Innocents of Chicago," by James Wedgwood Drawbell (Collins).