Arizona republican., 1919-03-30

A-F'E -ENOhs IS u UCIIldS W Silu Mary l.. Hanshew "Cleek7 mystery tale that is all mystery from cover to cover. Whoever seeks the odd and un- usual in ballfement, need go no fur ther than this book, published by Doubleday, Page & company. It has all the element all the ccomponent parts, all the excitement, thrill and novelty that mystery can suggest. Be ginning with the Purple Emperor" which is a sacred jewel stolen from the idols of India many years before, train of thefts, murders, disguised identities, underground passages, cir cumstantial incidents that come dan gerously near duplicating the leading characters and the "Pentacle Gang" furnish food for suspense that make it quite task to drop the book, even for few hours sleep or q much needed dinner.
 To provide the captivating climax, "Cleek," the Man of Forty Faces" and the Vanishing Cracksman," famous Scotland Yard operatives. solves each and every problem with fascinating cleverness and the ease of one whose observation misses never the slightest circumstance to make a link in the chain of assembling evidence.
 An ill-kept old English court is the scene of the series of events, occupied by Hon. Miss Cheyne. a recluse Her niece, Lady Margaret Cheyne, upon returning from a. Paris convent at IS, comes into possession of a large as sortment of valuable jewels be- queathed to her by her father Her aunt. being murdered by the leader of the "Pentacle' gang, is imperson- pt hNrf h -Nhb rlo.,i Y-lyf,, the interest of the Hindus. to recover the Purple Emperor With Lady Margaret. he goes to London to secure the jewels on her eighteenth birth day. Returning with them Cheyne Court, Lady Margaret is held a pris- oner, while Blake the impersonator, se- cures a number of kangaroos from a London circus. Possessing himself of the jewels, he stores them in the pouches of the kangaroos, hidden in a secret room beneath the house. On 1 the day of the capture the animals are about to be removed by a travelling circus, when "Cleek" springs his de- nouemeHt.
 The mighty clever manner in which the Hanshews manage to maneuver Lady Brenton, Sir Edgar Jennifer | Wynne, pr. Varrall, Bobby Wynne and others along the edges of the develop ing events, just sufficiently to make | the reader believe them, at first, to | be implicated in the murders, is ex- | ceedingly novel. These suspicious cir cumstances at times completely mysti- | fy "Cleek' but, at no time. are inn | portant enough to sidetrack him from | the main theory that he has built up i in his own mind. In fact, it is this | veterans stubborn pursuit of a once l established theory that has ever kept 1 him so unblemished hero in the other l Hanshew mysteries, such as "Cleek's 1 Government Cases" 'Cleek. the Man of Forty Faces" "Cleek of Scotland l Nard,' and The Riddle of the Night"
 TWELVE MEN. by Theodore Drei- ser, Boni & Liverigt. When Mir Dreiser piled sex story upon sex story | it was q question whether he was in spiIed by sales to wide if not always discriminating public, by the stimulus Of the adverse criticism of the disap- proving, or by an unquenchable belief in realism. Fortunately for the pub lie, as well as for Mir. Dreiser his last book is almost if not quite free from the sex appeal and his sincerity vim | dicated
 Twelve Men is composed of as 1 many chapters each of which tells the story undoubtedly true, of some atten- | compelling personality with whom l MT. Dreiser has come in contact. In some cases, Peters" for instance, the man was an intimate friend of MT Drelser's; in others he was a passing ship. One was a doer of good works in a small Connecticut town whom MT Dreiser went to see because he had heard a group of fishermen agree that he was the one contented man of their acquaintance. In another tale, back we come to Broadway, and read the amaz ingly realistic story of Mr. Dreiser' brother, Paul Dresser" who wrote "On the Banks of the Wabash" and other popular songs, and lived the gay generous, unprincipled life that New York eagerly provides for those who want it and can pay for it. From this we run into the tenderly told tales of the country doctor-and then comes De Maupassant, Junior a story that should be read by all young writers.
 Here is a book of a new sort-one too good to miss. Not only it is [ well balanced analysis of the mer MT. Dreiser has met-it is also a pene- trating though unconscious analyst: of MT. Dreiser Indeed, it might wei be called Thirteen Men,"
 THE BOOK AT HAND. It is tho book nearest at hand-the one tha is easiest to get-that almost invari- ably claims first attention and i'm mediate reading. The force of sugges ton coupled with the path of least en ] hn rf ture quite as effectively as anywher' else, and it only remained for Harlan H. Ballard, librarian of the Berkshir, Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass. to dem onstrate this fact conclusively througl a recent investigation that he car ried on.
 In giving the results of his inquir, among the libraries of Massachusetts MT Ballard states that the choice c 74 per cent of the books drawn iron libraries depend upon some one of in following reasons:
 q took the book because it wa nearest my hand"
 Because it was easiest to get
 Because I saw it lying on the desk.
 Contrasted with these rather as founding admissions on the part o three fourths of the readers, othe answers on the slips given to eacl person drawing a book show that thei choice was influenced as follows:
 (a) Recommendation of a
 friend .....-... .........1 pc.
 (b) Authors reputation. 31A pc.
 Co Printed reviews and ad-
 vertisements .....s5 pc.
 (d) Interest in subject ....5 pc.
 (e) Influence of library F pc.
 All of which merely goes to shoy that while many factors together de | termine the choice of the entire read