The San Francisco call., 1906-08-19
Gossip Of Writers.

OOOSlp vi w lIlClO.
The literary work of Anna Katherine
Green is of such unusual merit. she Is
such a mistress of the art of mystery
in storytelling. that to call attention
to her hooks even in their second edi-
tions is almost an imperative obliga-
tion to good craftsmanship and to
readers who like stories constructed
with consummate art. Her story of a
strange crime, The Circular Study"
is out in popular edition. neatly bound
in cloth. 1t is one of those mystery
stories in the narration of which the
author excels. 1t Is a statement of a
puzzling case of murder so cleverly
told that ID almost becomes to the
Imagination like a dramatic perform
ance somewhere beheld with bated
breath; and then after the readers in
terest is skillfully wrought up as to
the perpetrator and his or her motives
the solution is given in a manner that
delights the mind with the satisfaction
that comes from keen curiosity fully
answered.
This account of strange crime and
of the strange history of a group OF
people whose relations of love and re-
venge led up to the commission of the
murder tells how "one impulsive act
on the part of woman had overthrown
all the fine-spun plans OF the subtlest
spirit that ever attempted to work its
will in the face of God and man."
(R. F. Fenno & Co.. New York. so
cents.)
Margaret Deland, whose new novel;
THE Awakening of Helena Richie" Is
published this week by the Harpers,
was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania,
and educated in private schools. In
1880 she was married to Lorin F. De-
land of Boston, and has since made her
home in that city. Her summers are
spent at Kennebunkport. Maine, where
she loves to work for hours in the large
garden that she has made to blossom
under her care. She lives quietly,
stunning publicity, and guarding her
personal life jealously. although to a
wide circle of intimate friends she Is
noted for a generous and gracious hos
pitality.
Mrs. Deland is a leisurely literary
workman, and has risen gradually into
the distinctive place in American lite
rature that she now holds. John
Ward" Preacher" "Old Chester
Tales" and DIR. Lavendar's People are
her best-known works. but The
Awakening of Helena Richie" will un-
questionably surpass anything that she
has yet written.-Harpers Literary
Gossip.
has published through Paul Elder &
Co., his account of San Francisco
Through Earthquake and Fire." in a
graphically written and well illustrated
pamphlet. 1t is a little bit belated, but
is of such sensibly restrained eloquence
that San Franciscans and their Eastern
friends and sympathizers will be
pleased to read again in it the story of
the great disaster. The author was an
eyewitness of the scenes he describes.
and his activity as an assistant in the
relief work of the first few days of the
calamity-hurrying about the city in
an automobile-gave him exceptional
opportunities to observe the wholeness
of the picture both as a thing spectacu-
lar and as a thing pathetic.
His professed affection for the city,
too, which the tone of his writing
makes good by a ring of genuineness,
is an added reason why his contribu-
ton to the history of that terrible
event is worth perusing and preserving.
The double page frontispiece In colored
half-tone showing the wide. black
clouded sweep of the fire as viewed
from Twin Peaks is among the most
impressive of the many representations
of that awe-inspiring spectacle. There
are some fifteen in all of the well
chosen illustrations. The little pam
phlet closed with an enthusiastic trib-
ute to THE Spirit of the People"
paul Elder & Co.. San Francisco.
rs cents.)
Views in Africa" by Anna B. Bad
lam. is a new issue, Book VII. of a
series of geographical readers for
school and home. edited by Larkin Dun
ton, late head master of the Boston
Normal School 1t Is a very we'll ar
ranged and interestingly told account
of the Dark Continent. on which 1t
throws much light in its seventy chap
ters. each covering briefly and clearly
some important subject about this least
known of the great geographical divi-
sions of the globe. Though written in
so simple style as to be easily under