PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 18 January 1939, Page 12

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED

Freeman Wills Crofts, the creator of the Inspector French stories—and French has been described at “the most human sleuth to be found in the detective novels of to-day"—is at his best in Antidote to Venom/’ a Hodder and Stoughton publication. Mr Crofts has earned a great reputation for the originality of his themes, and he has again excelled himself in this respect, apart from again displaying specialised knowledge in an unusual subject. The reader will cordially endorse the claim that the writer’s effort is particularly noteworthy because: even Crofts, himself a master of intricate detective novel, has never produced a more ingenious plot: the background of the Zoo provides an unusual and original setting for an unusual and original crime; the crime is traced to its source in the mind of the criminal, making him a man so like ourselves that we are left with the uneasy feeling of being potential murderers. It is a thrilling story. In the cleverly and quaintly illustrated “Black, White and Caroline.” the popular authoress Susan Ertz appears in a new role. The writer of “The Galaxy.” “The Proselyte,” and other successful novels gives further proof of her great versatility in this enchanting story for children, a most original fairy story, real, unexpected and convincing. This is another Hodder and Stoughton publication, admirably produced