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12 New Fiction Continued from Preceding Page. fto matter how apparently hopeless. ^he author's ingenuity in devising scrapes for the Phantom to get Snto a/id then releasin- him lrom them i^ admirable. It really seems as if each one had reached the climax, when on the next page another follows. And the reader is quite Willing to accept them as plausible and is willing to be thrilled by all ?uvov V*VII UJ 11.1 j/|'CUiUg UUUCI Ilia j feet, In the everyday comings and ! goings of the usual throng in the city streets. Cabs have always been j the author's best aid in detective fiction. But the creator of The Gray Phantom finds the elevated and the subway equally useful. Nor are the possibilities of rush hour crowds neglected. All the stock figures of successful detective fiction are here. But either because most of us rather like tnese familiar friends, or because of a pleasant buoyancy of narrative as If the author were doing it easily and rather enjoying it himself, they come iu uo i/? usucu up unu iresnener- in this book. There is the girl, too, and she takes her place in the acticn quite properly. But the curtain does not go down on a picture of lovers in each other's arms. With commendable discretion the author leaves that detail to the future and the reader may work it cut as he wishes. Also there is a real genuine surprise in this book, even for an omnivorous devourer of detective stories It comes like a '.omb and makes the most case-hardened reviewer sit up. It is entirely unforeseen, which Is the best thing one can say about any detective story. i I A. VIRGINIA SCOTT. By Hugh PenI'Mter. Bahbs-Merrin Company. THE writer of historical romance is In much danger of falling between two stools; of offending the expert historian by inaccuracy or anachronisms or of providing so much fact as to discourage the seeker after mere entertainment. Mr. Pendexter avoids the danger with signal success. This may almost be called a model of what historical romance should be. as to proportion of its elements and the mechanism of its construction. His manner is also satisfying. It ia vivacious enough hut never undignified. The narrative is rapid, fluent and excellently adapted to the subject matter. Simply as a thrilling story of adventure it will hold any one's attention. But it is of more importance as a living picture of the times portrayed. It is a tale of Indian fighting and \ intrigue Just before the Revolution, . covering Dunmore's War, which ended with the pitched battl9 of Point Pleasant. One feels the shadow of the greater conflict to come. The narrator, a scou\ and surveyor in the service of Lord Dun- I u-""*more, remarks, in a conversation with CoL Lewis tin 177-0 that the "quarreling between colonies and mother country was an old story," but the Colonel replies; "It wiP soon be open war. I verily believe I atari entertaining to-day the last royal governor of Virginia."' One gets this background fully, but our chief business is with the Indians. The story is primarily a picture of that struggle, which is told with retraint and simplicity but in strong colors. Family after family is tomahawked, tragedy follows tragedy, in miniature and in pitched battles, but there Is nothing of the crude "tank drama" about it. no unreality, no tog blurring the sharp outline. His Indians are believable men, not of the conventional type. So. too. are his Indian "killers" like Cousin, the man whose chief aim in life is to UU 1UC uiosrs who nave murOfrcrt ! and destroyed his own people. He is an outstanding: minor figure of singular sharpness in drawing. The plot as a story, is well planned. fulL of incident, but sweeping to a fine climax. There is a feeling of gloom and f~ N Book Exchange V / HIGHEST CASH PRICES PAID BOB complete libraries end email lots of books, encyclopedia Hi ltar.nl> a. 11 edition. Book I of Knowledge and sets of standard authors particularly ? anted. Calls made anywher*. THOMS A BISON. INC.. 11 Barclay St.. )t. Y Phone HOC: Curt land t. ?nAi i*'u n A.i i we nave 1.000.000 (second-hand and new) tn stock. | All subjects. On approval. Also KA11E , BOOKS. Catalogue free. Commissions ' executed. Foyleu. 121 Charing Cross Koad, London. England ^BOOKS wanted for factory libraries; en- I tire private libraries or small col Ice- | tions old or new books: representative on lis anywhere with automobile; prompt ast, tansned-ate removal. 11.CRT. 256 Went 115th PL Cathedral Xflfc, j THE NEW YORI blood over It all?the terror of the forest of that day, men moving always stealthily, with every nerve taut, like wild creatures, expecting death, feeling it at their elbows everywhere. But the beauty of the forest is there as well The book, 'for instance, is singularly full of bird song, and one senses the sweetness of life the more poignantly because of the surrounding danger. So far as historical exactitude goes Mr. Pendexter is scrupulously precise. He has even "documented" : the tale, with an occasional footnote. Probably the special student, or historical "shark." might be able I to pick a flaw here and there, but assuredly there Is no distorting of ( fact, no material error. It is an j extremely successful reproduction l of the past. Mr. Pendexter does not make the cheap mistake of imitating ! archaisms of language too much. His manner is rather that of to-day. or of any day. hJa historical atmosphere being a thing more subtle (than mere verbalism. But he is guilty of no anachronism. The study is good enough to gain more than ephemeral success THE VALLEY OF CONTENT. By Blanche Upright. W. J. Watt A Co. MRS. UPRIGHT makes her first appearance as a nov- . elist with a long story' which reverts to a form once com- i moner than it is now. though it is j familiar enough to the patrons of the moving picture shows of to-day as a Aim device. It combines straight narrative with an interpolated nightmare vision, something after the manner of some of Dickens's experiments. It begins with a prelude of simple narrative, which is followed by the lonj vision, and then you suddenly wake up and are conj fronted by the moral. It can be effective; to some extent it is so here, as Mrs. Upright is $ good | scenario writer and the body of the ; :>ook is sufficiently strenuous ? a ' good, old fashioned" melodrama with most of the usual incidents, includ- | ing the young girl and the matinee j idol actor, the overexuberant son of ! the family, shooting affairs, card playing and most of the old bag of tricks. The treatment is crude, but often dramatic, and nicely stage managed. It is a highly moral book: Its lesson being as obviously conveyed as mac or me uicKens cnnstmas tale, but without any of tbe genius that sav^s Dickens from absurdity even at his worst. The moral is somewhat familiar. ' The heights?" says Marjorie at the end. "No, Hugh, dear?I'm willing to let who will live on the hilltops of life. For me the valley. The only place I wish to live the rest of my life is in the Valley of Contentment." Q. E. D. Marjorie and Hugh are. happily married, with two fine children, but he has perpetrated an invention from which he might make millions. The vision deals with the remark; able amount of trouble that might also come with wealth, the evils of society in New York. Sec. It is a lurid vision that would make an excellent series of five reel films. !? Nevertheless Mrs. Upright shows somewhat unusual power in stock dramatic conceptions, and manages : to give some reality to a few of her j "thrills." The success, however. Is of the sensational theater or the photoplay rather than in the field of the novel. COPPER STREAK TRAIL. By Eugene Manlove Rhodes. Houghton Mitflin Company. A SOLITARY horseman might have been seen at the opening of thia tale plodding along through the wilds of Arizona, j but we have come a long, long trail since the days of the late O. P. R. James, and despite the underlying family resemblance there is about as much similarity between such a story as this and its once famous predecessors as there is between aj stately moving quadrille and the Jazz | of to-oay. And the modem form Is ! vastly better. For at least it always \ moves and has nothing sti'ted ahout it. In hands so competent as those of Mr. Rhodes it reaches a level above good artisanship and may become a real work of art. Mr. Rhodes has been do'ng Wild West stories so long that he needs \ no Introduct on to the average reader. He knows what he is writing about, too. as he did not acquire his knowledge in a movie studio or borrow it from beadle's Dime Novels. He has been a cowboy himself and | has really lived outdoors, nence his description 13 not merely picturesque but always satisfying. He fdflows [ the familiar conventions, and his. C HERALD, SUNDAY folk are stock characters, but 1 does manage to put life lr.tocher This novel is an excellent epeclme of what Roosevelt used to call ' "bully good story-" There is no need to indicate i plot beyond observing that the sol tary horseman, old Pete, was hea< ing for a "copper hill," and that 1 and his young partner, and varioi .others, had no end of trouble 1 finally gaining proper and legal po session of it On the way to th happy conclusion there is & grei deal of rapid fire gun play, an abui dance of strategem and wi.es, plenl of incidental surprises converging t a well planned climax. Finally, ar most important for many reader Mr. Rhodes has a gerial humor, whimsical way now and then tin livens the mixture very pkasanti; It is a very easy book to read, one is fond of the better sort of wil West yarn. THE I.ADY IX BLUE. By Augusl Gror.w and Grace Isabel Colbroi Dulfield. ft Co. IT is useful and pleasant to hav an English version of a goo specimen of the Continental va riety of the detective mystery yari This is one of a series of "Joeep Muller" stories; he is the Teutoni equivalent of Sherlock Holmes, Ai sene L.upin et aL, all in a way linef descendants of M. Lecoq. Muller i a very satisfactory sleuth, thoug there is nothing very different abou his marvelous methods to distinsruis him from his Anglo-American o French competitors. He is, on th whole, a rather human figure, les of a machine than some of th others, and he is quite likable. The construction of the plot is als along familiar lines, and very we done, the suspense being hgld we up to the end, with the usual ma chinery of false leads, acute deduc tions, &c. The movement is rapi enough and all the people are some thing more than mere puppet, though the author never loses sigh of the fact that the mystery is th thing. They are all excessivel noble, all, that is, except the* re quired victim, who is no better tha she should have been. In fact he violent taking off (she is stabbe to start the story) is ultimately jus titled and the slqughterer is let o easily, the final reflection being Mul ler's thought that "the spirit of th law is more important than the met letter and that circumstances altc any case." It was scarcely a case c legally justifiable homicide, but th lady was better out of the way an her removal was a public benefit. That is a slight variation from th English or French norm, but ther is a still wider divergence in th motivation of the murderer, who i actuated not by personal vengeanc or love or r-*>ed. hut hv a hiehl noble desire to protect and preserv traditional fucifl) honor?not hi own, but that of his benefactor. 1 is plausible enough in an Austria or Continental setting, but has a Oiid flavor in English. The Englis version is by Grace Isabel Colbroi and is smoothly fluent and lively i its dialogue. Doubtless one mus charg: tip to the proofreader sue eccentricities as "attenuating cii euros tances." ELINOR COLHOUSE. Hy Stephe Hudson. Alfred A. Knopf. TO be anything like a "reg'la feller" nowadays the youn novelist must plan his grtn work as at least a trilogy. But thet la no reason why he need stop s that; Mr. Hudson doesn't, as we &r warned that the history of Richar Kurt is to be at least a five boo affair. This slim volume is but prelude, leading up to the alread published "Richard Kart." which I soon to be followed by three mori The scheme is impressive, but th specimen^ thus far presented leav one wondering whether it could nt have been all compressed, easily, int a single reasonably bulky volunr This prelude boils down to the fa< that a hard, heartless, good look in American beauty unscrupulous! t.lcks the very youthful and ver Knglish Richard into marrying he although he really doesn't want t< and the book ends with his dlsgu: at the whole proceeding. Kiinor is pretty well done. Thet are such sirens, tout it is a little of strain to find so apparently intell gent a youngster as Richard being t easily taken in by them. Richai himself is interesting and will do i a hero. The rest of the eharaetei are mere lay figures, one of then the American railroad magnate, grotesque travesty. Mr. lludsu really has something to say, but a] , MAY 14, 1922. ie pears to take himself and his hero a ma a. little more seriously than the cir- sci n cumstances warrant. erl a _______ th< LOVE AND DIANA. By Concordia thi ts MerreL Thomas Seltzer. to j- rpHERE is naturally more lore roi 1- I in this than there is of Diana, h? ie becaase the love allotment J 0 15 has go around and take in her sis- ^ ln ter and some of her discarded lovers, 3~ to say nothing of the big, beautiful . is He-man who finally captures Diana lt herself. He was large enough to . OC. need a good deal of loving. Besides . to ' these features there is a great deal :o of conversation. Diana and her Jim wc ld have to talk about it almost all the nri a* time, and she Is otherwise a loquaa cious young person. Ag It is another case of the deserving * " poor young man who is every inch js a man and the aristocratic, very beautiful and spoiled daughter of the millionaire. They have a strenuous time of it in finding each other, as ^ei ;a it is necessary for him to rescue her n' from drowning at the outset. Later C?1 on they all move from England to Eg South Africa, and after Jim has v.'i d saved her father's mine for him they "tl l" have to get lost on the veldt. The ficl l. whole thing is absolutely machine pit h made, a standardized, stock pattern sit affair, well enough put together and th< smooth in action but entirely* a pup- WL pet show. siE 11 Jei 3 AFTERGLOW. By Edith Thomson. h E. P. Dutton & Co. act I ^T^HIS is a trifle out of the beaten ^ II { I path in that it is a case of e cradle snatching that may be , ! said to have been at least a partial is me e success, although the conclusion is jmoant to be tragic. The lady in the _J ' case is definitely mature, though of U | guaranteed good looks. She is jj "forty-one, nearly forty-two" when &c the trouble begins. "In a few more "S years she would be faded; a middle wi aged woman whose daye for ro- dri 1=5 SfK y \vh^( drew back frc passion. "No! I car planation of you. A e . is | Seldom in a century is such Every page pulsing with pa n in its mystery. Throbbing witl n love, despair, hope and greedbooks we feel compelled to re; willingly burning the midnigh ing our hours of sleep. THE V/ HF rni\ V/A VV/A 1 By Blanche it The story, created by a ma struggle of a man, his wife, hi poverty to wealth. From the vitalized by tears and laughtei and above all, with a tense hu you right up to the totally un< To the tired business man, t the conventional love story, to ' and every taste, this modern come as a welcome surprise. ie once. You will read it twicee And then you will tell your fr >t At all booMtllar$ ? P ?, W. J. Watt & Co. . Pnh t * y, v r I A new nove by DIANA | Barbara . v 1 By the author of "The Wider Way" a 1 There is about Diana Patrick's novels s i- faction from the first page. She strik w; beginning and maintains it. Emotio (l and human nature, swift, varied moid en the life of a very modern girl who indep after anotiMr, running risks, gaining e rs last happily -as the heroine of an out-a $2.00. Any bookseller can supply i iBa E. P. BUTTON & CO., 681 F . 'i tnce were past, while Gerry would ircely have started In life." Neviheless she marries him, and on 3 whole they get on rather better m one might expect Her Ideal is have a year?if only a year?of marwp and aha haa it_ At lenetll. wever. she hears him explain to a* anger woman that he realizes her e. &c. She takes an overdose of idicine and exits before there is y more difficulty. [t is rather crudely managed, and 3 author's style is at best but medire. As it is, ftie story is calculated afford a real good cry to the imessionable young, gum chewing men who may read it, but it will t excite them to the point of putg aside (or swallowing) their gum. i a picture of "high society" at ashington and in the Berkshires it not very convincing. The report from denoa of the ath of Agnes Castle closes one of s most attractive chapters in reat English literature. A year ago jerton Castle died and now his fe's death means the passing of le Castles" from contemporary Lion. In "Pamela Pounce" (Ap(ton), which has been published ice Mr. Castle's death, appeared 3 final work of the collaboration lich has given so much pleasure ice the days of "The Pride of anico" down. It is interesting it in period depicted and in charier this novel marked a return to lat first won the Castles fame. rhe Duttons announce the imdiate publication of "Invisible ercise," a new book by Gerald inley Lee, author of "Crowds." he Ghost in the White House," The author terms the book even studies in self command, th practical suggestions and ills." n you!' g^tted^he boy^ai ide Druid's hand. His Ups 1 . . ?.i im nis teetn, in animaMike ne here to demand an ex. nd I'm-going-to-have-it." i a story written. lpitating life. Fascinating i tense passion, with hate, ? this is one of those few ad to the very last word, it oil and eagerly sacrific/ iLLEY ITENT Upright ster-pen, records the life s son, his daughter, from first page to the last, it is by comedy and tragedy iman interest which grips expected ending, o the reader satiated with book-lovers of every class classic of romance will You will not only read it -and perhaps once more! iends to read it. 'r?c? SI. 90 n?t Ushers : New York * \ ITRICK is just ready Justice and 'The Islands of Desire" in indefinable assurance of satiscs a full rich note at the very n and atmosphere, outdoor life t, all are used in drawing vividly icndendy attacks one occupation cpcrience, but making haven at ind-out love story should. t; if not, it can be had from ifth Avenue, New Yor'..