THE FIELD OF FICTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19240, 2 August 1924, Page 4

THE FIELD OF FICTION.

RAPID REVIEWS. By Constant Reader. The story of a week-end spent at the house in the country of “a nice, clean, respectable couple,’’ with “two children. One dog. no vices” is certain to attract a large circle of readers. Such is “A Lady in Green Gloves,” by Sylvia Thompson (Basil Blackwell). Michael is a busy barrister practising in London and the sketch —it is almost too slight to be called a story—begins when Michael leaves the city for the country, and with his wife Olivia, entertains over the week-end a large concourse of visitors at their country house. Miss Thompson is singularly successful in depicting the idyllic existence of this charming couple, the children and the dog, in their delightful residence amid the quiet and retircmeait of the country. There is a clever contrast between the placidity of country life and the restlessness of the week-enu crowd, and the characterisation is welt done. A cloud appears on the horizon when Olivia discovers that one of the visitors, Anno Chenister has fallen in love with Michael, hut the author does not unduly stress this episode. There is plenty of amusing talk about airy nothing's and the book roads as if taken from life. The scene of “The Templeton Case” (John T.ong) is laid in Sussex, and the Bev. Victor L. Whitechurch, who made his name as a novelist with ’’The Canon in Residence,” shows himself as much at home with criminals and detectives as he i# in ecclesiastical surroundings. In detec-tive-sergeant Colson he has created a character worthy to rival Sherlock Holmes or John Thorndike, and the masterly fashion in which Colson wrestles with the mystery of a murder committed in a Sussex estuary makes an exceedingly clever detective story. There is a novelty in the detection of the murderer which brings a freshness into the story, and the unusual motive underlying the mystery adds undoubtedly to the fascination of the book. To enter into the details of a story of this sort would oo to add another offence to the originar crime; lieyond generalisations a reviewer is not entitled to go. Because a book has little literary merit, it does not follow that it may not help pleasantly to pass an idle hour. This is the verdict on ‘‘The Way oi Sacrifice,’’ by E. Almaz-Stout (John

Long). Sir Stanley Rircham, of Whitcomb Court is a Ouida-likc hero, a true typo of Englishman “broad of shoulder, long and lean of limb.” The competition for his band is keen, but Primrose Ward, loved him and carried off the prize. Enter Helen Dale, who lighted a passion in Sir Stanley’s breast, so that little Primrose lay sobbing in her bod, while Helen’s “beautiful bosom” beat “tumultuously under her laces and crepe do chine. *' But Helen's father had committed an. offence against the law which bo nad shouldered on the father of Primrose, ana Mrs Wood, who yearned for Sir Stanley, headed Helen off by telling her the truth. Helen had an accident in the hunting field, and Primrose, watching by tier bedside, heard words in delirium which helped to put things straight. It is ail good melodrama, sufficiently complicated to create a sensation, but the reader knows all the time how it will end. “The Grey Phantom,” by Herman Landon (John Long) is an American “shocker” of the crudest type. Tho Thelma Theatre in New York had been built for an eccentric millionaire named Vincent Starr, who had spent a fortune upon its decorations. Starr had accepted a play for his theatre, the work of the beautiful Helen Hardwick, and in which ho appeared in the title-role. During the performance Virginia Damn is mysteriously murdered, and the crime is at once ascribed to the diabolically clever Mr SheL Helen is implicated in the toils of the plot of which the murder is an incident, and the Grey Phantom appears to champion her cause. Beneath tho role of tho Grey Phantom is concealed an intense love for the beautiful Helen, but many sensations occur ere true love has free course. It is an incredible story which wall only please readers who like the colour laid on thickly. The Regency, with its Bucks and Bloods, its prize-fighters and duellists is a fruitful field for the novelist, and in “Chance and the Woman” (Mills ana Boon)’ Air Ellis Middleton plays the tune and makes his puppets dance. There are strange oaths and masked men on the highway, and beautiful damsels in distress, with all of which Mr Jeffrey Farnol has made readers familiar. M r Middleton is a disciple of Mr Farad's, but he hardly gets the same atmosphere. However the non-oritical reader may be quite carried away by the yarn. “ The way of the wild with a woman alone in the far North ” is the descrirtion given to “The Woman Tamer” by Stanley Shaw (Hodder and Stoughton). The story ia of American origin, and it tells of the adventures of Wayne Yeatman and CJecille Dennison in the far north of Canada. Yeatman was an ex-linn tamer and bent on examining a tract of country in which were extensive copper deposits and to which he laid claim. Cccille Dennison also believed herself entitled to the same copper deposits. For a while they joined forces and this led to love passages; in the end the maij tamed the •woman in a fashion peculiar to those northern regions. The story is full of striking situations and replete with remarkable adventures. “Clung,” by Max Brand (Hodder and Stoughton), was manifestly written with the movies in view; it is also of American origin. The scene of the story is Arizona,. where bullets fly and lynch law prevails. Clung is brought to believe himself of mixed parentage, with a Chinese father and an American mother; actually he is American all through and without a suspicion of a yellow streak. The fable of a Chinese father breeds in him an Oriental impassivity which stands him in good stead when seized by a seemingly hopeless passion for a white girl. In such a story the probabilities do not count, and since none but the brave deserve the fair. Clung evinces a courage in keeping with his character. Air Achmed Abdullah does not improve as he goes on and “A Buccaneer in Spats ” (Hutchinson) is the worst story ho has yet written. Probably the author imagined by taking Tunis as the setting of the story to cover over its shortcomings, but even in Tunis men and women such as ho pictures could scarcely exist. A predatory English nobleman with commercial inclination and vulgar tastes had married a Hindu princess by whom he had a lovely daughter. In return for a valuable concession this materially minded Earl proposes to bestow his daughter’s hand in marriage upon an Arab, able to speak the American language but in reality a “rotter.” There comes opportunely to the rescue an impoverished New Yorker, scarcely a desirable husband but a shade better than the Arab. The story has little to recommend it. In “ Barker’s Drift ” (Hutchinson) Air Charles Cannell takes his readers to South Africa, where in the wilds of far-off Mahangeland a few Englishmen have settled, tempted by concessions from a native chief- The store is kept by an old man named Barker, near the drift by the mouth of the Anaya River, and there a tragedy happens. The ill-feeling between the settlers and the natives is brought to a head by the murder of the chief’s son, and is added to by an intrigue between Roy Fell and the daughter of the chief, who commits suicide. The natives rise and attack the settlers and Roy Fell is killed while defending Barker’s Drift, thus giving the rest of the settlers a chance to escape. Tho story is quite creditably told and the atmosphere well created. The Baroness Orczy is well versed in historical romance and she selects the period of the Civil War and the love of a Royalist maid for a roundhead soldier as subject for her latest story, “ Tho Honorable Jim” (Hodder and Htoughton). Oxfordshire, ever loyal to the King, is the scene of the story, and while Compton held Banbury on behalf of the Royalists, a few miles away at Broughton Castle, William, Lord Saye and Sole, plotted for tho Parliamentarians- Jim Fiennes, eldest son of Lord Saye and Scle, had married Barbara, daughter of Sir Edward Cecil, afterwards Lord Wimbledon, and the war found them espousing hostile causes. Tho novelist employs historical characters and she gives a vivid description of the Battle of Naaeby. The story is well told, mostly from the Royalist point of view, but tho Roundheads are sympathetically treated.