Omaha daily bee., 1910-02-17
SERIAL STORY IN THE BEE
Publication of a Charming Novel Will
Begin On Sunday.
MAN IN LOWER TEN" Is SELECTED
Absorbing Tale of Love and Mystery,
Complicated with Crime and
Adventure, VIII be Given
Our Readers.

THE Man In Lower Ten by MARY
Roberts Rinehart, author Of THE Circular
Staircase and published by the Bobbs-
Merrill company, Indianapolis, will be pub
lished as a serial story by The Bee.
The Circular Staircase" was one of the
happy surprises of 1908. Here was a mys-
terry by an author practically unknown,
which combined elements of humor and
mystery in such entertaining proportions
that the reading public was Immediately
captivated. The combination was some
thirg new, piquant and different, like the
drst taste of grape fruit dressed with oil.
In The Man In Lower Ten" Mrs. Rine-
hart tells an even better story, with even
greater gayety, and even more intense
! humor. This incessant, spontaneous. ire
pressible humor of hers may be taken as
her distinctive contribution to detective fic-
tion, the very essence of her true delight
~fulness. 1t has its source in an optimism
rs natural as the yelling Of water from the
rock. 1t has the tonic quality of sunshine.
even in the moments of their direst pre-
,caments the characters are able to laugh
t themselves, and the reader laughs with
them.
Now, one might reasonably suppose that
this incorrigible comic perception would
take the edge off the excitement. But 1t
doesn't. On the contrary, it adds to the
serse Of reality, makes the characters seem
more natural. human and sympathetic, sup
plies ozone to the air of plausibility, gives
a zest to the criminal chase and whets the
appetite for mystery.
And as for the mystery-the plot of 1.-THE
Man in Lower Ten so deeply engrosses
the reader that he forgets meals, sleep,
the toothache, appendicitis, duns and all
other insistent distractions. We shan't
give 1t away; we should not be so unkind
to the prospective reader. But the starting
point may at least bo indicated. A man
goes to bed in Lower Nine OF the Wash
ington sleeper from Pittsburg, and awakens
in Lower Seven. In the meantime, an
other man in Lower Ten," which berth
the first man was to have occupied II
Pullman arrangements had gone straight,
is murdered, and the man in Lower
Seven finds, as he starts to dress, not
his own clothes and shoes, but the gar
ments Of somebody else and the bag OF
somebody else, instead of the one con-
timing his own valuable papers.
There's your puzzle for you, and It seems
all the more battling because of its very
simplicity. The criminal must be one of
1HO iNtpO blOup OA peOplS' ali uoSCElDeu'
who boarded the Washington car. Natur-
ally, every reader becomes a detective
on his own hook, c~ertaln-sure that he has
the one correct solution. And Mrs. Rlne-
hart just sits back with her sly and
subtle smile-and let's one think 30. Her
fun will come to see him sit up with a jerk
Of surprise when she discloses her secret
in the last astonishing chapter.
1t remains to add that, while the bright
banners of humor and the sinister storm
signals of mystery are streaming through
out this story, the flag of romance flies
bravely, too. On the fateful Pullman on
which the hero takes passage there is also
a blue-eyed and brown-haired Isabel whom
he sees and loves. THE Man in Lower
Ten" thus makes a threefold appeal on the
reader. who is at once absorbed by its
unusual mystery, cheered by It's delight
full humor and charmed by its love-inter-
est. And a threefold cord, says Ecclesi-
astes, is not quickly broken.
The first installment of THE Man in
Lower Ten" will be published in The
Sunday Bee OF February 20. II would be
well to order the paper at once In order
to secure the first chapter OF this charm
ing story.