The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-02-27
"THE DRUMS OF JEOPARDY"

By Harold MacGrath. Illustrated by
 Ralph Fallen Coleman. Doubleday,
 Page & Co.,, Publishers, Garden City.
 N. Y.
 The fortune of '"rhe Drums of Jeo- pardy," the famous emeralds which bring in their wake long history of crime and sorrow, is the theme of Harold MacGrath's new romance. John Hawkley carries them-a kings ran som-in a chamois bag around his neck. Pursued by relentless red agents, he climbs through . window into the apartments of pretty Kitty Conoyer, a newspaper woman, and in- wolves her and her friend Cutty, the government agent, in a romance and mystery which is one of the most thrilling that MacGrath has written.
 Harold MacGrath is one of the seven leading American novelists and since the publication of his first romance 20 years ago has written perhaps more best sellers than any of his contem- poraries. Himself an indefatigable traveller and adventurer, he has ex- plored the far corners of the earth and gathered wealth of material for his novel.
 THE WITNESS OF THE SUN' By Henry Smith Williams. Doubleday,
 Page & Co.,, Garden City, N. Y.
 In an office in the middle thirties in New York lay prosperous promoter dead, shot in broad daylight without q soul hearing the report. and with no clue to the assassin. Opposite the pro- moter's window was the office of a Mexican who had "a grudge against him. At the time of the murder an airplane was circling round. dropping bombs containing pamphlets; over in Brooklyn was a man who would benefit by John Theobold's death; the dead mans secretary was engaged to Theo- bold's stenographer and the rich man had paid her marked attention. This Ia the basis of fascinating mystery story which is solved by photography. In the courtroom the evidence is thrown on the screen: 1t is so conclusive that the reader, like the jury. is absolutely |lieved?" The denouement is as sur prising as it is ingenius.
 pr. Henry Smith Williams is a prac ticing physician who nevertheless has found time to write many books of popular science, history and biography in addition to several medical works. In mystery stories he is entering new field. in which the thorough knowledge of science and human nature that he displays in "The Witness of the Sun" augurS success.
 1.-THE 'scHooLMAsTER OF HESS WILLIE
 By Helen R. Martin. The Century Com
 pany. Publishers. Garden City. N. Y.
 A strong man. blinded to- the finer things of life by his infatuation for a | of nd in ph a ter; his wife, plain. quiet but with rare and exquisite beauty of spirit; and the woman-these three work out the in- evitable drama in 8 little Pennsylvania town far off the beaten highways. The Pennsylvania Dutch. with their unbe- lievable lingo, their appalling thrift and queer medieval customs make picturesque setting for the story. but they are also very human, subject to all the passions. dreams and aspira- tions of their more sophisticated neigh bors. The schoolmaster holds real happiness In his hands, hut loses 1t in pursuit of an illusion. When he tastes the bitterness of realization he discov- CTS the beauty of that which he has lost and sets out to find it again before it is too late.
 Mrs. Martin has long been recognized as the most brilliant literary interpre-
 
 Mennoites, the Amish and other Qdeer sects which ase rapidly vanishing from the rural villages of southern Penn sylvania. "The Schoolmaster of Hess vile" follows upon q long line of suc- cessful novels. including 'Her Hus- bands Purse" Martha of the Menon- its Country" and Those Fitzenber- bers." "Erstwhile Susan." in which Mrs. Fiske made such a charming hero inc, Is also dramatisation of one of Mrs. Martins stories.
 FIN THE MOUNTAINs'
 Anonymous" Doubleday. Page &
 Co, Publishers. Garden City. ". Y.
 The story takes place in little chalet in Switzerland. and is full of the beauty of mountains and the mon subtle development of feminine hu- man nature. It is 50 graceful in form. 50 delightfully."- whimsical. 70 full of quaint and playful humor that while one looks forward to the following page with curiosity, 50 far as the course of the story is concerned, he wishes to finger to get to the full the pleasant flavor and sparkle of each paragraph.
 The author of the book is unknown woman for surely no man could have written the story Even the publish CTS do not know the secret.
 "SURPRISESsOF LIFE" By Clemenceau (Ex-Premier of
 France). (Tfanslated by Grace Hall). Doubleday Page & O.. Pub fishers, Garden City, N. Y.
 Of the way Clemenceau handles his Surprises of Life" H. M. Hyndman |says:
 He takes up the theme of Balzac and his style is vivid with irony ana graceful with poetic thought" The storiss deal with the provincial life of France. with the small landholderos as indigenous as If they had grown out of the soil themselvea They have the reality and power of Ea;xAc.
 Occasionally Clemenceau's pen goes to the city: and here his keen, remorse- less irony etches. as with acids, . clear and illuminating picture of con- temporary life in France.