NEW BOOKS REVIEWED

Taranaki Daily News, 28 April 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

NEW BOOKS REVIEWED

A FIRST- CLASS DETECTIVE STORY. "Th« Devil's Passport”; by Gordon Young. Cassell and Co., Ltd., Melbourne. A. J. Fyfe, Ltd., New Plymouth. Those who like a thoroughgoing detective story where the wit and the skill Of the detective is pitted against the resource and the cunning of a supercriminal will enjoy every page of ‘‘The Devil’s Passport.” Don Everhard, whose cousin had married the chief of a bureau closely allied with the Secret Service of the United States is the unofficial sleuth told off to track down a mysterious crime organisation with world-wide ramifications and the faculty for removing by death any of its agents or servants who fail. This secret and unholy alliance has a skull as a seal to its communications and is known in detective circles as La Tete de Mort. Don pursues its agents in America and in Paris and en route. He makes the acquaintance of a charming lady On the steamer and their association has some startling chapters. Don mixes with all shades of society in Paris. He learns the strength of the organisation he is pursuing and he learns also to what lengths a woman will go for the man she loves and the cause she has at heart. A thoroughly readable and enjoyable yarn. TROPICAL CRIME AND PASSION. “Drum Madness”; by the Edingtons and Marianne Barrett. Cassell and Co.. Ltd., Melbourne. A. J. Fyfe, Ltd., New Plymouth. “Drum Madness” is also a story in which a detective, Gregory Cole, takes a hand. But the setting of the story is in the island of Tahiti and the esoteric mixture of barbarity, sexual passion and deliberate cruelty of the mixed breeds who inhabit that lovely country add Considerably to the grimness of the story. Gaspard Antier, pearl dealer and man of substance, is the villain of the piece. He has acquired a black pearl of marvellous value, and had acquired a few months earlier an American bride. Madeline Antier has reached a stage of almost continuous hysteria. She hates and fears her husband, she loathes the natives and fears their mysteries. The booming of the drums at the native incantations gives the book its title, while the search for the thief who stole the pearl and the man who murdered Gaspard Antier gave Geoffrey Cole plenty to do. The narrative is distinctly original in many respects. In some of the scenes it is only the plain commonsense of fat, good-natured Sarah Ross, aunt of Madeline Antier, that saves the situation. The sketches Of native character with its retention of old superstitions and its regard as well as contempt for some of the actions and laws of the white man are very clever. The chapter in which a

public execution is described loses none of its grimness because the guillotine is hedged about by palms and flowering tropical bushes. In the end Geoffrey Cole achieves some sorting out of the tangle, but the interest is maintained right through. To those who like a touch of native mysticism in detective stories this book will make a Strong appeal. It has some clever'character studies as well as an interesting and intriguing plot.