INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE IN FICTION

Northern Advocate, 28 November 1936, Page 1 (Supplement)

INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE IN FICTION

Among The Latest Books

JT must be a sign of the times that several of the latest novels which have come to us for review should deal in some form or other with international intrigue. Incidents are not lacking in the affairs of nations today to serve as the cornerstones of popular novels, and some of the wellknown writers have woven them into gripping tales. Take for instance E. Phillips Oppenheim’s latest, “The Spy Paramount.” He has taken for his theme the ideal of world peace, and he makes Martin Pawley, former star member of the American M.1.8.C., accomplish that which, in actual sober fact, is very far from settled. And it is all very simple. Pawley ostensibly is engaged as a member of the Italian Secret Service; but heart he is working toward only ope end—and . that is universal peace. Actually he is not a grdat deal of good to the Italians and, in the end, they are after his 'blood. But his discovery of the French hellnotter (a machine capable of destroying anything in the air), and also of the fact that Germany possess a similar infernal machine leads to the situation from which springs the outlawing of war.

Mr Oppenheim is at his best, as he leads the reader into the maelstrom of intrigue, adventure and romance,, and ends it all with the flourish that leaves the reader satisfied that he would have liked some more. * S w 9 ' ITALY AND GERMANY. On somewhat similar lines, although the peace of the world is not at stake, is “The Nine Waxed Faces,” by Francis Beeding, which, like the other book, is very readable. Mr Beeding’s

main theme is an attempted alliance between Italy and Germany, and tells how Colonel Alistair Granby, D. 5.0., and Mr Robert Hardcastle, members of the British Intelligence Service (Secret Branch) throw a spanner in' the works devised by Herr Hagen and Signor Cafarelli.

It all starts when Bob Hardcastle if sent to Innsbruck to meet a secret agent with some valuable information gathered from the confines of Signo? Cafarelli’s establishment. There he gets mixed up with the Brotherhood of the Edelweiss (they are the wearers of the waxed faces), and a series of adventures which land him into all sorts of scrapes, and lead him and Colonel Granby a merry dance until they escape death by a hair’s-breadth in the final scene, and pack up for home, confident that their job has been well and truly done/

The pelges are packed with adven- ) ture, and romance peeps through the ! maze of intrigue all the way. Mr Seeding is right up to the minute with his book, and the incidents round which it is audaciously written are still fresh in the mind. It is good reading. \ N , *'* * * OVERCOMING THE ARMS EMBARGO.

From these we pass on to “The Dark Waters,” from the pen of William Corcoran. While most of the plot of this entertaining story is plastered with murders and feuds in New York’s thugdom, ■ towards the end we find Dex Ward plotting to get a cargo of guns into the European republic of Berengaria, so that Stephanie’s father may lead the revolt back to the established order. He does it, but it is rather incidental to the real story,

which begins when Dex Ward is en-, rolled as Teverson’s bodyguard, and finally steps into his shoes as the head of a racket which seems innocent enough., It also seems to be profitable enough, and the muscular Dex has to remove several from the path of progress before he takes Stephanie into his arms and decides to go to Berengaria.

Mr Corcoran has achieved a fastmoving and thrilling story capable of a bright evening’s entertainment.

THE SAINT AGAIN. New York and gangsters are not yet finished with, for next we have the latest of the Saint books, “The Saint in New York,” which provides that dare.-devilish and amiable rascal with an endless stream of opportunities to reveal his skill, bravado and humour, as, one by one, he mops up the cream of the New York underworld.

In Madrid one day the Saint meets American millionaire William K. Valcross, and accepts his offer of 1,000,000 dollars to wipe out a string of gangsters who had kidnapped his son. From the moment the Saint puts foot into New York things begin to move; familiar faces begin to disappear from the haunts of gangsterdom; and the Saint is involved in a series of breathtaking adventures, from which it requires all his nerve and roaring bravado to escape. It is a tale with a twist in it, and further than that we will not go, leaving it to you to enjoy the finale of what you will vote one of the best Saint books Mr Leslie Charteris has so far handed on to an eager public. Each of these books, issued by Redder and Stoughton, is obtainable from all booksellers.