Evening star., 1922-06-04
Reviews of New Books

in resisting an sursent impulse to
shake him. Then there is Mary. filled
up with repressed desires. about
which she has Just learned to be
agonizingly concerned. And there are
others-all up TO the minute in some
quest of their own insides. AS an in
teTior study the book is clever and
acute. AS picture OF the modern IL
is humorously illuminating. As q
story-nothing at all.
THE IVORY FAN. By Adrian Heard
New York. G. P. Putnam's Sons.
This is the story of a young woman
who. by way OF making a break for
liberty. runs away from an over-ex-
acting mother, to take hinR at Nfe
In the south OF France, with a capti-
vatlnR actor-and this, too. without
oeneht of clergy. Mind you. this Ia no
ordinary elopement entered into by
q common and conscienceless woman.
Quite the opposite. The young woman
is OF the upper kind-educated
thoughtful, and, of course. beautiful.
Ones interest in the fact Itself is
ment over the casual character of this
unusual procedure. Nobody seems 20
be disturbed at the, certainly most
unconventional. turn OF the affair. Tnc
glri appears to lose no degree OF
caste. no degree of seif-respect. II is,
concededly. temporary ARRANGEMENT
"a simple efpedient to secure the
freedom on which her heart is set.
And, by and by. the episode ends.
The man goes his way, she goes hers.
Ihen a perfectly nice man presents
himself-knowing all about the ad-
yenture-and the way to regular
marriage opens. AL this took place in
the south of France. Maybe hey do
things differently at Nice. Maybe. So
Sun, one feels that the author has.
inescusably. skimped the obloquy and
disgrace that, just naturally, goes
along with this particular kind of
performance. And that is, to be sure.
not playing the game right. because
that IT misleading attitude, likely To
get innocent-minded readers into
trouble
THE YEAR OF DELIGHT. By Mar
earet Widdemer, author OF The
Board Walk etc. New York: Hsr-
court Brace e. Co
Delight is the gitl's name The doc
tors have given her one year more to
i've. Out OF the sky, so to speak, she
inherits $500 900. Obviously of philo-
good year. Nat least. Gathering about
her little group OF companions, she
goes hither and yon. buys estates. re-
gardless of the desire of the owners 10
sen, and otherwise comports herself as
dying girl with six million dollars in
her hand might be expected TO DO, pro-
vided ones explorations are of the ac-
commodating sort The END Of the
years adventure is obvious. The doc
tors were wrong. And in the mean
time Delight has achieved lover,
host OF friends and is joyously headed.
when the fairy story ends, upon living
happy ever after. as all good Cinde-
relia DO live after passing under the
efficient ministrations OF the good fairy.
THE BODY n THE BLUE ROOM. By
Sidney Williams. Frontispiece by
j. CLIFTON Shepherd Philadelphia:
The Penn Publishing Company.
The same old murder-not a soul In
sight. yet the young woman was done
for-obviously murdered Then the
same old quest began. Everybody in
the house party sooner or later fell un-
der suspicion. Over each new contec-
ture the familiar activity Of pursuit fol-
lowed. fading away into final disrepu,e,
merely to make way for a fresh suspect
ano 0renewal of the old prodigious ac-
tivity. At the end tremendous surprise
at the real criminal In certain re-
spects. however, this story differs from
many. To the authors credit, one finds
here not only believable people, but two
or three uncqlnmonly interesting ones
as well And he does develop sincere
and pleasing romance in the, midst OF
his other, and paramount, activities.
In his conception OF crime, its motives
and detection, there is courage to his
account, and wide hingof the imagi-
nation. He dares 10. gather mystery
from wide sources-a strange airshp
secretly manned; an oriental of fakerish
tendencies who makes much of a Gu
riously carved golden box housing a
golden serpent, deadly in sudden ma
lignancy. These he adds to the com
mon run. Of everyday folks who go
about numbering people without any
reason at all. Well-the action keeps
itself busy. never stopping for a second.
The reader. too has to be more or less
on the job to keep the run Of this mys-
terious case of murder.