BOOKS & BOOKMEN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17062, 21 September 1929, Page 10

BOOKS & BOOKMEN

AIR. EDGAR WALLACE. “Red Aces/’ by Edgar Wallace. (Hodder and Stoughton). Our pleasure at renewing acquaint anee with Mr. J. G. Reeder —it.is in “Red Aces/’ a collection o.t' three tales by Edgar Wallace —is touched with a certain doubt as to whether the man can be as omniscient as we had thought; in the last ol ! these adventures lie is twice outwitted, once by poison gas and once by a blow on tiie head. But for the rest he is the same bright spirit, for all his unorthodox hat and square-toed boots. He knows all- that the criminals are doing so much, much better than they know; themselves; he appals and bewilders them with liis intimate touches. in the intervals of coaching them on poultry-breeding; he penetrates all disguises and sees through all bluffs; finally, in the moment of action, is there anyone quite so impressive as Air. Reeder, for the moment in “immaculate’’ evening dress, as, pistol in hand, he brings to book the gang of Gravne Hall in the ancestral dining-room as the police rush in in response to his 'magnesium hare? For those who like their Edgar Wallace (and do they not include an ox-Prime Minister?) this is ;just the book, crowded —rather too crowded—with grim and lurid incident, and with an unrelenting and yellowmaekiustoshed Nemesis visibly on the track. Wc watch with confidence the march of justice. “One should .always be young enough,” Air. •Reeder said in another connection, to rejoice in the triumph of virtu6’-’-; and in a way Mr. Wallace does subserve that great moral purpose, and without the usual dreary complications of sex. Can that omission be one of the reasons of his popularity? Yet oven the creator of the infallible detective nods on occasion; “it was invariably Air. Reeder’s practice,” we are told, “to cross, like the Philistine, to the other side of the road,” THE ADORING MOTHER. Plays and novels lately have been busy pointing out the evils of wdiich the really passionately 'maternal mother is the cause, aud “Abbot’s End,” (Hoddcr and Stoughton), Aliss Crompton’s latest story, is another variation of this theme. Her mother is of the loving, understanding typo, who insists on being the c.entre of her adoring family, who expects to know every thought of her children, and be their one and perfect guide, philosopher, and friend. A month’s absence —recuperating after an illness—breaks the spell, and on her return she finds signs of independence in her children. Fortunately slit* is honest as well as well-meaning, and sees in time the folly of her ways. . Needless to say, as the book is written by Miss Crompton, it is kindly aud human, with an appreciation of the pleasantness of ordinary things, as well as a recognition of the pathos and tragedy which lie beneath absurdity. A VAMPIRE STORY. Airs Alice Campbell, who made a great success with her first novel, “The Juggernaut,” has given a very entertaining story in “Water Weed” (Hodder aud Stoughton), which tells of how an attractive young American, Glen Hillier, visiting England, becomes enamoured with and gets into the toils of a rich woman of society, forgetting the girl of his youth, who happens to meet him in London, ami with great self-sacrifice and devotion rescues “the poor mutt” from a charge of murder of his lady love, in which all the surrounding circumstances appeared to be convincingly against him. The story is romantic, mysterious and exciting. HISTORICAL ROMANCE. “Charles, King of England,” by John Drinkwater (Hodder and Stoughton;. Air. Drinkwater’s historical studies are .well known and he has given us a very interesting and romantic story in this book, which is one of the People’s Library cheap edilions - . . Another story “Buy My Silence/' by Herman Landou (Cassell). Abut in Dale, alias the “Elusive Picaroon,” had once suffered unjustly fit the hands of the law, and thenceforward he took a malicious pleasure in thwarting the authorities. Throughout his chequered career he was the staunch champion of hapless maidens, victimised by unprincipled ruffians, and the adventures involved in his twofold task of evading tho vigilance of that sturdy representative of th<‘ police, Inspector Summers, and foiling the infamous designs oi unscrupulous blackmailers, are tola with all AH. Landou’s habitual skill and force. “Buy My Silence!” however, fulfils two undent laws of detective tales, that the author shall never explain anything and that the events shall be piled on top of each other so quickly that the reader shall not have a chance to think or to ask embarrassing questions.