The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-02-11

Critics have for years discussed the
wonderful analytical powers of the
mind Of DR.. Conan Doyle. If these
faculties are considered so renarkab bic
in a man what should be said when
they are found in q woman. for the de-
tective stories of Anna Katherine
Greene are quite as interesting and
fascinating as those of DR.. Doyle. There
may be an absence OF the delicate finish
that marks the conclusions Of the Eng
lish stories but the theme is Just as
well handled and just as delicately con-
ceived as the most thrilling adventures
of the celebrated Sherlock Holmes.
Therefore it is almost unnecessary to
say that her latest book The Million
ARE Baby is fascinating. It viii hold
the attention Of the reader from the
first page to the last and the person
who is determined to read but one or
two chapters at a time would better not
commence for it is such a book that
will cause person to forget all his
other duties in the absorption of the
skulfuUy constructed plot.
AS one might infer from the title, the
story is built around a. lost child The
six year old daughter of Mrs. Ocum-
paugh disappears from a summer house
during an afternoon function and while
the nurse is only a few feet away. One
of her shoes is found not far away on
the way to the river but the fact that
men are at work directly in the path
to the stream at once convinces the
reader that the searcher must look to
some other avenue for the lost child
The detective who interviews Miss
Graham, the nurse, finds that the little
girl GwendOlyn, had been stopped on
the road some time before by an old
man who had frightened the child by
his strange words and apparent threats
and naturally the search for this man
Is the central purpose and 1t is discOV-
cred that he had, a day or two after the
disappearance Of the little girl. been
seen carrying a child into his house.
The clue is followed and the detective
finds that the man in question. Dr.
Pool, had a child in the house but that
so far from being the little girl sought,
is a boy. It is also ascertained that
the boy was taken from a movers
wagon by DR.. Pool and that the wagon
was seen near the home of Mr.. Carew,
adjoining the Ocumpaugh estate, at
about the time GwendOlyn disappeared
From this time the interest is in the
work Of the detective near the scene of
the child's disappearance. His exam
ination of the bungalow or summer
house in the dead of night assisted by
Mrs. Carew. the discovery of a subter-
Tanean passage under it and evidence
that a woman had been there a short
time before will keep the excitement OF
the reader keyed to the highest pitch.
It might be limited how the story ter
inmates and the mystery is cleared up
but that would be telling. The book
must be read to be appreciated and any
synopsis, no matter how complete, would !
fall far short of its purpose.
The disposition of Dr. Pool and the /
boy in his charge is too sudden. One /
would think that they are simply in |
the way of the author so she obligingiy /
has them fall down stairs ana get kill /
ed lust at a time when the reader won
ders how the mystery can be cleared |
with DR.. Pool and his protege still on /
the scene of action.
The conclusion is left in rather an |
unsatisfactory and unfinished state but |
since this is a detective story it may I
be we'll to leave something to the imag- |
nation of the reader.
Many will remember 1.-The Million !
aire Baby as q serial in a well known I
periodical but it Is such a story as can I
be appreciated best in book form for it |
must be read as a whole.
THE Millionaire Baby" published by the |
Bobbs-Merrin Co, Indianapolis Illus /
trated by Keller. Price $50
American Thumb Prints is the
title of a volume of essays by Kate 4
Stephens, formerly professor of Greek 1
in the university of Kansas, now of |
New York City, which will be issued |
within a few weeks by J. B. Lippincott I
& Co.. of Philadelphia. All Kansans-
and especially students of Kansas state /
university be interested in read
ing the essays. ''The University Ct /
Hesperus'' and 1.-The Puritans of the
West" The author having lived some /
years in Cambridge. writes with first
hand knowledge of THE New England I
Woman" and a New England Island /
outdoor life-still life as it Were-in
the Litchfield hills cannot fail to ap-
peal TO a wide circle of readers both
east and west. Then we have 1.-TWO