New-York tribune., 1922-11-26
Some Recent Fiction
BY Isabel Paterson

done, it's fine exciting predicament.
Perhaps Swede, being blond,
| would enjoy low state of visibility,
and two Swedes naturally would be
even less visible. The yacht, by the
/ way, was after $l,0ooeo0 in gold
/ that was lost when q boat from the
Klondike went down. And it had on
board 8 lovely kidnapped lady The ele-
ments of good thriller are there all
right. Moreover, it is educational
One learns how to say 81 love you" in
IT goes. Would you ever have guessed
"The Mystery of the Hidden Room"
| is purely a native product, 1t unfolds
itself on Riverside Drive; the exact
location may be determined by any
one having curiosity and the taxi fare,
for the house containing the hidden
room was twenty minutes by motor
driving as fast as the speed laws
allow, if not faster-from West
Seventy-second Street. The house also
was an old one remodeled, and stand
ing in "vast grounds" so you will
readily grasp this was no sordid affair
concerning persons of the lower
social strata
Where. then. was Philip Darwin, the
master Of the house, shot? In the first
chapter--yes, yes, of course, but in
which room? The library? No. By q
process of elimination, only the study
remains. Right.
was his young and lovely wife, who
moment after the shot rang out was
discovered holding the SMOKING re- re.
volver in her hand, was she the guilty
party Impossible. Graydon McKelvie
the great detective, lays down the rule
IN such cases; She was innocent be-
cause the evidence against her was too
overwhelming to be convincing.
Then could it be the dead mans sec
retary, the spiteful Orton? No, be-
cause he is the first one against whom
the readers suspicion is directed How
ABOUT. his nephew, Lee Darwin? He
also is ruled out; he had quarreled
ssio!entiy with his uncle the day be-
tore, and, moreover, his footprints were
discovered under the study window
Therefore he did not do it. Was it,
then, the young wife's brother? He
mad strong motive-so that clears
him.
The plot thickens, does it not? It
does. Toward the last it is what YOU
might call pretty thick Well, who
wants a wishy-washy, watery detective
story! The thicker the better, till it
stands up by the sheer weight of it's
lmprobability. This one does. The
style is classical. There is a man
servant named jenkins; and if that is
not classical enough, surely the phrase
"Styglan darkness" is.
But detective story without anv
murder, without even a half-hearted
villain in it-well, it may be "in an
original 'vein," as the book Jacket
claims for "The Mysterious Office" but
it isn't what l call proper detective
story at all. A little more blood and
thunder, please, and serve hotter. And
such good chance for murder. cyn-
lcaliy speaking; for every one in this
story is just too good to live Twenty
fve thousand dollars had disappeared
from the desk Of John eGary. Only
four persons had access to the room
all or them Geary's trusted employees.
Three of them confessed to- the theft.
out OF sheer good-heartedness, to shield
the others. And then it turned out
not to have been stolen at all. 1t was
simply carried off airily by Geary's
daughter, who thought papa meant her
to have it, and must know that no one
else would take what didn't belong to
theP: Probably the idiot child inher-
tied her stupidity from father who
would walk out of his Office leaving
$4,000 in cash lying around loose; but
one loses patience with such a family.
One does not feel even bound to re-
spect the conventions by not revealing
the plot, for there it is in all its feeble-
ness. In case the book was really
meant for children, an apology is here
with rendered for what in that case is
undue severity. But detective stories
for children are so rare.