RECENT FICTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22546, 13 April 1935, Page 4

RECENT FICTION

"The Progress to the Lake." By Hichard Heron Ward. (Ivor Nicholson and Watson.) "Public Enemy No. 1." By Bruce Graeme. (Hutchinson.) _ "Hamlsh Munro's Experiment.** By Vernon George. (Stockwell.) "The Judgment of Paris." By Jean Barre. (Wright and Brown.) , "The Life He Stole." By Sefton Kjle. <J " n The S Hound of Death." By Agatha Christie. (Crime Club.) „ , ,_„_,. %• " Fiddler's Folly." By Joy Baines. (Harrap.) "The Shining Trail." By Otwell Binns. the Four." By Mark Cross. By Mary Le Bas (Nelson) "Sons to Fortune." By Vlrgte E. Roe. <C «Mnto the Fire." By J. P. Russell. (Herbert Jenkins.) . (Each 7s 6d.) Progress to Manhood This penetrating study of adolescence takes its title, "Progress to the Lake/ from a mvstical fragment of verse dj William Blake, the significance of wmen is that there comes to every man an hour in which he realises himself and rises above his fears, casting them from him into the Lake of Oblivion. The fears of Lewis Olney, the central figure of the story, are the usual reticences of a sensitive nature at the age when boyhood is passing away and passive self-sufficiency is giving way to outward-going activity. The scene of the story is, for the most part, a school, but there is in this book none of the exuberant humour of schoolboys. The author is a serious writer, and his characters are rather more consistently solemn than is altogether natural. But although it is solemn, the book is not morbid, as such studies too frequently are. Olney is an attractive youth, and although he was over-sensi-tive, he was, the author says, ' by no means the type of young horror who slouched about the school with Swinburne under his armVand his eyes on the ground." • The growth of his character under influences of school, home, holiday activities, and early friendships is the theme of the story, and his progress to a fuller awareness of his own powers is well portrayed. The climax is, however, rather highly wrought. Mr Ward is apparently still young, but to judge by the clear, quiet beauty of his style, he should produce work of more than ordiuary merit in the not distant future. Gangsters in England

" Public Enemy No. 1" concerns the depredations of American gangsters who invade England and endeavour to establish their own peculiar rackets, reinforced by the rule of the gun. 'Circumstances conspire to inveigle an English recruit to their ranks. This young man is newly released from a harsh term of imprisonment and falls an easy victim to the blandishments of the enemies of society. Daring coups and raids are carried out with an utter contempt for human life. Their exploits culminate in a daylight raid on a large industrial concern and the appropriation of the pay roll. With the countryside thor6ughly roused, the gangsters retreat to their stronghold, a fortified country house. A pitched battle ensues, and after a sanguinary conflict, two survivors win through to start life afresh under happy omens.

Trade Secrets An 'unusually valuable trade secret is the reason for the thrilling adventures undergone by a young motor salesman, Walter Munro, in England, Tasmania, India, and again in England. His uncle, Hamish Munro, after many experiments, has perfected a new storage battery which is coveted by an international gang of desperados. In response to a summons from his uncle in Tasmania young Walter sets out, but even before his arrival he is involved in strange adventures. Soon after his arrival the uncle is murdered and the young man is left to return to England with his valuable secret. The pace of the action develops at a reckless speed and eventually the precious formula is locked in the vaults of the Bank of England. The story is told in the first person—a st'/la difficult to handle, especially when the action demands great heroism from the writer. Mingled with the rather fantastic incidents are several travel impressions which have an authentic appearance and give the book one of its contacts with reality. Scenario

Occasionally one comes across a book which bears evidence that its technique has been strongly influenced by the "movies." "The Judgment of Paris" is one of these. Miss Barre has a fluent style and can build up a good yarn, but readers will find that after behaving like fallible human beings foi part of the story the characters develop into celluloid gods and goddesses. Paris Warner is an actor whose first marriage has embittered him to misogynism. Into his life come two women, an innocent and charming girl and a brilliant worldling. Under their influence the actor sheds his misogynism and the book is devoted to the efforts of Paris to make his judgment between the two. Miss Barre has drawn her central character so well that readers will believe they too understand him and are likely to disagree with the verdict at which his creator has made him arrive.

Dead Man's Shoes " The Life He Stole " commences with a murder, but the book is an unusual thriller in that the subsequent story does not develop into a game of "Hide and Seek" between criminal and police. Kenneth Mainbury, long thought to be dead, murders his twin brother and he is so amazingly like him that he determines to assume the identity of his brother Gerald. By doing this he becomes a baronet, an apparently wealthy man, and the fiance of the girl he loved long ago. Soon he discovers that all is not well. The dead man's affairs, financial and moral, will not bear inspection and Kenneth finds himself loaded with another's sins. Happiness can only be attained by a_ complete laying. bare of the whole business and that appears to be impossible without disaster, —of course, in the climax it becomes quite possible. " The Hound of Death " Mrs Christie departs from what may be described as the strictly detective type of fiction in "The Hound of Death," which is a collection of mystery stories based on the supernatural. Crimes are present in several of them, but they are crimes of the mentally unbalanced, committed under stress and with the unnatural cunning that so often accompanies lunacy, rather than those of the outlaw against society. In some a solution is reached, even though the case is usually one more for the alienist than the law, but in most of them the author is content to adduce the evidence and leave the reader to provide his own explanation. Weird and unnerving happenings are chronicled, but those who have a leaning towards affairs psychic or spiritualistic will probably be able to. discover a satisfying solution of the majority of them. The Author Agatha Christie, English mystery story writer, was born at Torquay, South Devon. She was a dreamy child and wrote poetry and stoyies at an early age, and later studied singing. In 1914 she married, and, while engaged in hospital work, wrote her first detective novel. She received encouragement from Eden Phillpotts and continued to write steadily. Her stories are mostly in the Conan Doyle-Sherlock Holmes tradition, and her best-known character is Hercule Poirot, an eccentric Belgian with a waxed moustache and a great faith in himself. She has published between 20 and 30 novels. Gipsy Lover A Sussex farm during the latter half of the last century is the setting for this story of a woman's love and her duty to her husband. It begins with the singular funeral of old Martin Godfrey, who decreed that his body should be drawn on one of his farm wagons to its Inst resting place and that it should be followed bv all his family on pain of disinheritance. When the old man died 100 miles from his home, the funeral assumed the proportions of a pilgrimage. Among the relatives is Stacey Martin and Ins young bride, for whom this is practical ly itheir honeymoon journey. The young bride's, realisation that she does not love her husband i* stimulated by her meeting with Lovell, a gipsy fiddler. So

estranged does she become that not until the husband invents a story that the gipsy has been hanged will she soften towards him. Subsequently the girl meets Lovell again, and the old passion carries her away. A son is born, and, under the terms of the father's will, it was imperative that a son should be born to Stacey, but the husband is suspicious. At last his suspicion is confirmed by the mother's confession. Stacey determines to adopt the boy as his own, but the wild blood in the lad causes continual strife until the mother manages his escape to his real father under circumstances that lead her husband to believe the boy dead. Having given her son the freedom of life he was entitled to, the mother realises that she has yet to right the wrongs of her husband, and the story reaches a strongly dramatic conclusion. " Fiddler's Folly" is powerfully written, and, although it is almost tragic in its intensity, it will make a profound appeal to many readers. The Great North-West Away in North-west Canada, where men are strong of necessity since only _ the physically perfect can withstand the rigorous climate, Mr Binns presents in "The Shining Trail" a tale of love and adventure every bit as exciting- as those which he writes with their background in more torrid zones. The one scene of the story is a missionary outpost, inaccessible for months in the year, to which Peter Thurlestone has gone to carry Christianity to the handful of Indians who inhabit it. His work is passively hampered by. suspicion and native beliefs and actively by whisky traffickers, but he perseveres, and after many escapes from an untimely end lie wins a bride and the confidence of his flock.

The Grip of the Four "Daphne Wrayne and her Adjusters again!" the reader of the "Shadow of the Four" will say. This later story gives us a weird account of mysterious disappearances which have taken place in a remote part of Scotland. Joan Westwood's seizure, apparently by a huge ape, rouses her brother Barry to consult the Adjusters, and Sir Hugh Williamson takes charge of the inquiry. He is convinced that the ape-skin is but a disguise, and looks for some man of unusual strength. The patience of his search and the awful nature of the denouement make a story of intense interest.

A First Novel The house of Nelson has begun a series called Nelson Novels, each of which is selected by Mr L. A. G. Strong, a young writer of acknowledged merit and a good critic. The first of the new series. " Castle Walk," is good unpretentious reading; the writer is content with a not too highly improbable romance. Two daughters of a quiet seaside village take a lending part in defeating the "progress" schemes of an unscrupulous clique to exploit the charm of the village and, in so doing,they incur the enmity of their mother, who stops their allowance. Faced with the necessity of earning her living, Jill, the bolder one, goes to London and becomes a waitress, a programme seller and, unconsciously, a swindler's decoy. Carol, the other daughter, stays in the village as a typist. After many adventures the matrimonial destiny of each is fulfilled, and two other minor characters are headed in the same direction. Finally even the jealous mother is won over, and happiness, except to the villainous,' is complete. There is nothing particularly original about the book, but it is an entertaining story which will appeal. A Remarkable Heroine

In " Sons to Fortune " Miss Vingie E. Eoe tells a story of the old days in Sacramento Valley, and of a heroine who can only be described as remarkable. A striking incarnation of beauty and youth, she is the owner of a gambling den. One night a man is kilJed for love of her and an evangelist denounces her, only to fall in love with her himself. While he thinks he is in danger of losing his soul he, somehow, manages to awaken hers. It should be sufficient to say that the last chapter is entitled " Gold from the Crucible." A Modern Girl # " This is not an embittered condemnation of the modern girl in general," Btates the publisher, "but rather a just and critical survey of a certain type of young woman whom the majority of readers will instantly recognise." It is to be hoped that this type is much rarer than is indicated in the foregoing remarks, for " Into the Fire " is the story of a most disagreeable young woman named Christine Fraser. While in Kenya she becomes engaged to Jim Rendall under unsatisfactory circumstances. She returns to Edinburgh, where her father, on hearing he is to lose her, suffers a stroke. A young doctor is called in, but the girl manages to secure most of his attention. He escapes in time and Christine goes off to East Africa with her father, who is convalescing. She conducts further flirtations, one with a young man who is repelled and another with a less particular foreigner, and this despite the fact that her marriage is now imminent. The father becomes aware of the affair in a manner which so shocks him that he dies. Christine then proceeds with the marriage—although this ending seems to have little point. V. V. L.