IMPROBABLE COMEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 11 (Supplement)

IMPROBABLE COMEDY

EARL AND SAUSAGE-MAKER " The Rift in the Loot " is a novel that fails to provide the entertainment its author intended, for its situations are too improbable and its long conversations, often taking place when criminals are being followed by the police, are so much drawn out that they end by becoming extremely boring. The Earl of Hampstead having lost his money, his daughter, Lady Susan, proposes that the castle shall be let and the family take the place of servants to the new tenant. After much discussion the plan is agreed upon. The castle is let to a rich sausage-maker, Mr. Wortle; the Earl takes the part of boots; Lady Hampstead cook—notwithstanding the fact that she has never cooked a meal in her life—the son, Rudolph, is footman; and Lady Susan the • housemaid. By this means many extraordinary situations develop. The plot centres round the search for "ancient treasure said to have been hidden in the castle hundreds of years before and never found. The new tenant is bent on prosecuting the search and keeping the proceeds' for himself; so he takes the boots into his confidence, never dreaming that it is the Earl himself. Meanwhile burglars have stolen the plate from the near by Rossiter Hall and concealed it in the castle for safety. Poor Mr. Wortle is accused of the theft, although his designs on the original treasure have not been very laudable. However, everything is finally cleared up; and the engagements of the Earl's son and daughter to the son and daughter of the sausage-maker provides an ending satisfactory to all parties. , . " The Rift in the Loot," by George C. Foster. (Ivor, Nicholson and Watson.)