The New York herald., 1922-12-03
NEW FICTION
-IN-
VARIED FORMS

anu OF Eden Phlll-
potts takes it into his head to
write a thorough going detective. mystery
yarn, of the Scotland Yard. vanishing
corpse, pools of blood order, one naturally
expects him to do it with certain differ
ence. Mr.. Phillpotts does not disappoint
that expectation, for this is a first rate
thriller" very cleverly constructed
puzzle out 1t is also a good deal more,
though he has limited that "more-ness"
strictly and has not attempted to mix in
congruous elements. But the story is more
than guessing game and its people are
not at all the usual lay figures, though he
mas held them skillfully within the con-
Ventions. His Scotland Yard inspector
Mark Brendon, from whose standpoint most
OF the story is told is genuine police Off
GER but he Is also man. He is no Sher-
lock, no supersleuth. but neither is he
wooden headed idiot True. Mr. Phillpotts
does feel obliged to lug in superdetective,
in the person of one Peter Cams. an
American. and he is the least satisfactory
figure in the story. but even he remains
quite possible.
The red Redmaynes were four: three
brothers and their niece the daughter of
a defunct brother. 1t might have been
called the mystery of the inconvenient
uncles, or of the vanishing uncles. for all
of them are eliminated in the course of the
action The woman in the case. Jenny
Pendean, is the very happily parried wife
of young Cornishman when the tale be-
gins. They are living in apparently idyllic
bliss near Dartmoor, when the youngest
uncle, Captain Robert appears There had
been disagreements about Jenny's mar
riage, but when Robert meets the beautiful
and amiable Michael Pendean there is an
immediate reconciliation Robert was a
big man, with the largest pair of red
mustaches Brendon remembered to have
observed on any human countenance."
Also violent red hair. And he had suf-
fered from shell shock-by the way, what
blessing shell shock has been to the
novelisti
Michael and Robert pay an evening visit
to a bungalow that Michael is having
built, and thereafter Michael is never seen
again, but there is a big pool of blood in
the house and numerous witnesses swear
to having seen the big red Captain riding
away on motor bicycle with a great
bundle tied behind him. And then he, too.
vanishes' apparently into thin air Every
one assumes that he has murdered Michael.
probably in a fit Of temporary insanity.
Jenny. diseonsolate and heartbroken. goes
to live with the next uncle, old Bendigo
Redmayne a retired sailor with house
on the cliffs near Dartmouth But the in
telligent detective. Brendon, has most un-
fortunately fallen in love with the beauti-
full widow. 1t should be noted that one
Giuseppe Doria an Italian aristocrat in
hard luck. is sort of servant companion
to old Bendigo He also is ineffably hand
some, and quite obviously Jenny and he
are TO fall in love
Six months later the lost Robert turns
up in ghostly fashion, and very soon old
Bendigo is also murdered. apparently by
the erratic Robert. His body is not found
and robert once more vanishes In fa-
miliar phrase. the plot thickens The story
then moves to Italy to go cunning for the
eldest uncle, Albert, retired book worm.
with a villa on the shore of Lake Como.
And in due time the phantom red Robert
appears and Uncle Albert is also murdered.
Meanwhile, Jenny has married the attrac-
tive Doria with rather unseemly haste.
That is enough of the plot to show that it
needed clever untangler of mysteries.
such as the willy American Cams to solve
the puzzle. Perhaps the experienced reader
of such tales will guess with partial ac-
curacy. at the outset; probably Mr. Phil
motifs means him to do co bl1f he nna. no
sure of a real surprise when the full so1u-