RECENT FICTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22718, 2 November 1935, Page 4

RECENT FICTION

"Jew Boy." By Simon Blumenfeld (Cape). "The Hills Sleep On." By Joanna Cannan {Hodder and Stoughton). "Chaste Interlude." By F. E. Baily (Collins). " Out Of the Earth." By Elizabeth Hyde (Davies). , _ " The Elmslie Mystery." By Alice A. Kenny (Macquarie Head, 6s). "Murder In Fancy Dress." By Inez Haynes Irwin (Heinemann). ~„,„, ~ " Hidden Death." By Cedric Goodall (Blackie, 4s). "The Yes Man." By Margaret Langmaid (Hodder and Stoughton). " Murder of a Bad Man." By Hulbert Footner (Crime Club). (Each 7s, unless otherwise stated.) "Jew Boy " This novel fits snugly into a now familiar category—the fiction of plaintive revolt. Its theme is the dispiriting one that the -workers (who seem to work no harder than they are made to do) are habitually oppressed, robbed and maltreated by their employers, the only fruits of their industry with which they are rewarded being the bitter fruit ot despair. Mr Blumenfeld would be more impressive if he could indicate that his principal character or symbol, a young Jewish worker in the Whitechapel clothing trade, deserved greater reward. Actually, Alec appears to have two preoccupations only, one the nurturing ot hatred and futile contempt for all forms of authority, especially that ,of the "capitalist," the other an almost uncontrollable amorous appetite. What with his destructive cynicism, affecting everything and everybody who has worked out of the muddy groove in which he aimlessly, complainingly proceeds nowhere, and his quite oriental obsession for eex, he becomes so,far from being a normal person that the story tends to develop into an examination of a pathological case rather than a treatise on the conditions of the London labouring class. Its propaganda element—for the book reveals itself in, its final pages, if not before, as a sort of muzzy clarion call to an indeterminate millenium—is nullified by the character of its protagonists, who seem, when all is said, to have earned just what they deserved. This is not to say that "Jew Boy" is an uninteresting novel. It is. indeed, -a human document, which can be read with' some appreciation by all who are concerned in studying the psychology of the individual, particularly that of the "under-dog." The only trouble is, that the author unconsciously provides so realistic an assessment of the value of his chosen underdog, both to himself and to the community, {hat one must feel sympathy would be wasted upon this savage, slinking type of mongrel, Whose snarl is so much better developed than his sense. Adventurer

Joanna Cannan has set out with no ulterior or subsidiary purpose in 'The Hills Sleep On," to provide readers with a tale of adventure and intrigue, the international sphere being her vaguely-denned battleground. Hero is a Whitehall clerK, who is despatched by his Foreign Office superiors upon an unofficial mission to the Orient, where, it is believed, an attempt is to be made to seize and subjugate India. The adventures into which. James precipitates himself, from the moment when he receives notice of his work, to that at which, after exciting encounters with the sinister agents of Britain s enemies at various points of the compass, he is making his resolution never to yawn at bedtime or be grumpy at breakfasttime when he is married to the beautiful Jean, are capably recounted and more than adequately thrilling. It can be said that Miss Cannan has achieved in The Hills Sleep On" what she wished to accomplish; but the merit of the accomplishment must be measured by the reader personally, according to his liking for romantic and rather superficial tales of high exploits in foreign lands. " Chaste Interlude "

Mr Baily's practised pen and assured faculty of observation are engaged in this novel in another romantic interpretation of London love. The heroines, three in number, are a model of superlative charm and intellect, a country girl with common sense and no ambition to marry into the peerage, and a lady of title who turns out to be more human than one would expect. The leading male actors are a journalist and a Guardsman. When the Guardsman realises that the lovely model's fancy is becoming detached from his kindly nature and fine figure he leaves her to the journalist and the second theme of the book develops, which may be described as the humanising of this amiable young aristocrat through contact with real people. Like others of Mr Baily's books, " Chaste Interlude" continually contains promise that the author will delve a little deeper below the surface of things than he ever does. When one comes to accept his limitations as deliberate, self-imposed, he can hg the more easily enjoyed as a writer for a rainy day. Emotion-seekers

There aTe two parts to Elizabeth Hyde's " Out of the Earth " (from Whitcombe and Tombs), one of them, the first, written objectively, the second part, in which the author seems to become personally engaged, as a partisan, in " the affairs of her heroine, written with emo tion. Thus it is that the critical will enjoy the earlier portions of the work the better, in which we are given an excellent description of the life of a Scottish farming family four decades ago. The pictures of Agnes in youth on the Scottish estate, the daughter of a rabid evangelical mother and a righteous father, are clear and compelling, The transition to Oxford, when she becomes the wife of a don, brings us into that atmo sphere of emotional turmoil that is so frequently expressed by modern novelists. The difficulties of the marriage adjustment are traced with an earnestness that threatens to become boring, and before the reader has left Agnes, still searching for a solution of her troubles, he may be out of sympathy with her and her lover, and more compassionately disposed to wards her husband than the author would expect. New Zealand Mystery

The next two books here considered are mystery stories, both of them written by women, and both distinguished by .i quality of quiet charm that_ is unusual—and cannot be easy to sustain—in stories

having murder as a central interest and criminal detection as a main theme. Miss Kenny's "The Elmslie Mystery," has a setting which makes it of particular interest —the beautiful, remote home ol John Elmslie, on the Hauraki Gulf. Here Elmslie lives with his niece, Ursula, and a number of employees, each of whom Miss Kenny has made a character distinct, and here he is visited by his nephew, Jim Swajsland, and a friend. Jim is in some slight financial difficulty, and seeks his- uncle's assistance. On the same night. Elmslie announces his intention of marrying, and next morning he is missing. Swaisland is reluctant to call in the police, and when, later, a body is discovered on the estate, this circumstance, and the consideration that he stood to benefit by his uncle's death, throw suspicion upon him.

The inquest produces evidence of extraordinary activities in and around Elmslie's house on the night of his disappearance, and the future looks black, not only for Jim but for others who were friends of the missing man. To outline fully a story with elements of mystery so tenuously sustained through it, would be to dull the raider's appreciation. It is sufficient to indicate that Miss Kenny has contrived a useful plot, and most competently develops it to a satisfactory finale. And .apart from the book's interest as a New Zealand mystery story, it possesses, as has been said, a pleasantness ji charaatcris-ation, a lightness of touch, and ,i romantic scene, that mark it apart from the usual crime book.

Masquerade Murder "Murder in Fancy Dress," with which "The Elmslie Mystery" is bracketed, is an American novel, its locale a beautiful colony on Boston's south shore, where several pleasant households live in quiet sympathy and peace. A murder and a mystery intrude, after the Stow's annual masquerade party, when the body of a popular local doctor and cosmopolitan is found stabbed, still wearing the Roman costume in which he attended the party. The investigation of the murder becomes an acute but uncynical investigation into the lives and characters of the guests who were at the masquerade, and very skilfully are the gradual revelations made that bring the police and the reader to realisation of the person who hated —or loved—the doctor sufficiently to kill him. Inez Haynes Irwin's portraits of cultured, intelligent people in a time of crisis are kindly and fair; though it must be said that the murdered man had made a lot of appointments in an unlikely place on the night he was killed.

" Hidden Death " The Hotel Luxurious has a strange room, No. 313, into which on a given night Mark Longhurst, a wealthy American, was ushered. To' all appearance it was an ordinary bedroom. Next morning, however, it was not there. Mark had gone without a trace. Mark's son sets himself to solve the. mystery, and with Tony Ferrers, a reporter on the staff of the Daily Broadcaster, who comes into the inquiry by an accident, finds himself the centre of a strange series ot adventures. Finally Horner Thake, the proprietor of the Luxurious, gets them into his clutches, and they learn the secret of Room 313 under unpleasant circumstances. The whole story is uncommonly exciting. Yes-Man

"The Yes-Man" is the story of the manner in which a very spineless young man is brought to realise that there are other vocations in life than that of a human doormat. Partner in a business requiring little effort to maintain, he allows the other member of the firm to assume the role of dictator, blithely going about as a nonentity. When, mainly from motives of compassion, he marries and his partner sees hie sole control endangered, events liven up considerably. Things become even more interesting when wife and partner, after a period of enmity, become mutually attracted, but the recapitulation of succeeding episodes in the life of the ill-assorted trio is so tediously done as to rob it of most of its force. Bad-Man " Murder of a Bad Man " is an exciting story of the unmasking and punishing of Mack Shenton, one of America's leading purveyors of liquor. Jack Comerford is engaged in the endeavour to suppress the illicit liquor trade, and hie son, also named Jack, who has just completed his studies in law, persuades the father to allow him to take, a share in the excitement and adventure.