DETECTIVE PUZZLES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 55, 6 March 1937, Page 27

DETECTIVE PUZZLES

Two detective thrillers recently published . strike , a new , note by giving sealed solutions at the end of the book, to which the reader can refer after forming his or her own theory. These two books are "What Is Your Verdict?" (by T. J. R. Sennocke) and "Photocrimes" (by .. Mileson ■ Horton and Thomas Pembroke). In the former the coroner had twelve deaths to investigate, and they each occupy about ten pages in the book. Each time Sergeant Mallory reveals the murderer, and each time the reader is asked to find what was the little detail which put Mallory on the track. Sealed pages at the end give the answer. The mysteries are well planned, except the first, which sounds too unlikely. In one or two cases the reader may think another . answer better '• than the author's. For instance, in No. 8 Shaw killed Millward, put the corpse in the frozen garden, and tried to show that Millward must'have fallen on the pitchfork. Mallory's suspicions were aroused by Shaw's remark that he had stuck the pitchfork in the ground, but they ought rather to have been aroused by his saying that he had tried to revive Millward. A body which had lain twelve hours in frost would be obviously unrevivable. Likewise, in No. 7, the murderer tried to make it seem that the shot came from outside, but he had neither opened the window nor broken it. ' ::

The two authors of "Photocrimes" give us twenty-six crime stories, each occupying two large pages of pictures; and again we are referred to the end for solutions. •■ A drawback tothe picture method is that the reader needs not only detective ingenuity,' but also very good eyes and a good light, else many clues are invisible.