Evening star., 1923-11-04
Reviews of New Books

corresponding in general features to
that with which the maker Of un-
written stories Is habitually expert
m;snting: n;sg A certain character. an in
cident, some day out of the many
DAYS. a corner of landscape. the fam
i!y In its exasperating behaviors-
!nese are among our possessions as
here they are, confessedly. among
ners. Our own Uncle John will take
the place of her Uncle Giles. Grand
mother has simply got to get into
our book, and the colonel. and Jim
Moody and a few others. quite as i'm
portant and as interesting, Mrs Can
neid makes us see, as the particular
ly sympathetic scrutiny. That Is the
delightful office of this book-not
chiefly because 1t puts us in touch
with the authors neighbors, but with
our own instead. A fine art here and
a most satisfying result.
THE RED BLOOD; A Novel. BY Har-
old II: Armstrong, author of 'Zell."
etc. New York: Harper & Bros.
There Is courage when the blood
runs red. and the unconquerable will
that denies defeat, turning 1t into
lesson for subsequent success, and
the long look ahead-that the poets
call vision-and adaptability and per-
sistence. and the big chance seized.
Many other powers, too, when the
blood runs red. And THE Red Blood"
Is the story of a man so possessed.
The story of Denny McNicol, who.
handicapped by bastardy and meager
opportunity and poor surroundings.
moved slowly but steadily out from
these entanglements into power and
place. One has seen this story OBJ
jectified in the open of American life
more than once. Without exaggera-
tion or overemphasis. the story fol-
lows along as many have seen it de-
velop in actuality. Except. In the
story, one gets the inner man. what
he is thinking about, how he explains
to himself some of his measures of
getting what he goes after. One Is
able to tally here the boy and the
man. the effect upon Denny McNicol's
heart and soul, of the deeds done by
Denny McNicol, as boy and man.
very true story, plain and unsensa-
tional, with an ending that, though
Of tragic effect, is, after all. but the
logic of the daily life of this high
handed, red-blooded man. The end
ing, tragic because it had 10 be. Trag-
edy was its content from the begin
ning-just plain life, though. run
ming along the very path that we see
many a "red- blood taking out In
the open. Strong and steady work,
admirably sustained throughout.
JIM HANvEY DETECTIVE. BY oc-
tavus Roy Cohen. author of The
Crimson Alibi," etc. New York:
Dodd, Mead & Co.
1t was a game with Jim Harvey
outwitting criminals For the pur-
poses of this game Jim divided the
crooks of the world into two classes
crooked crooks and straight crooks.
To the former he paid no attention.
They went against his fastfdious
taste in criminals. But to the straight
crook, the one who played his own
game with brain-intelligent reason
able, intuitive. adroit. finished-to
that one Jim Hanvey opened out as to
Jim! How he did look! Fat. chin
after chin to his great neck, face
blank as a tallow cake, little eyes
whose lids never winked, but yawned
long instead, clothes that shouted
from one end of the street to the
other. golden log chain for his watch
and golden toothpick that was his
pride-poor Jim! How he did look!
Great fellow, though. One delights
in him. He is different, as you see.
but different, too, on the inside of
him. A romantic, pathetic hulk of
a man. Keen as a briar. Convincing.
too. Get in touch with Jim, If you've
not already done this.
GLADYS. BY Dr. J. Morgan de Groot.
author of 1.-The Hand of Venus"
etc. Philadelphia: ]. B. Lippin-
colt Company.
The chief preoccupation of this girl
Gladys was that she wanted children.
smooth phrase for this particular bent
of mind and feeling. And Gladys pos
sessed, also, a deep instinct against
marriage. A sizeable job for the
author in the present state of society,
to reconcile these anti-pathetic ele-
mo p,,t he
size job, clearly, for he adds to the
difficulties of his task by making a
beautiful and Turing girl of Gladys
toward whom the feet of young men
turned without waiting for the con-
sent of the will Two lovers out
along in an interesting to-do of
plausible happenings there grows in
his mind a suspicion of Gladys. Twice
as this girl approached marriage she
turned and fled Naturally. one as
sumed that these successive flights
were in response to that recoil from
marriage which the girl is said to
possess Looking closely, however,
into the actual incidents that brought
about these distressing and embar-.
RAISING, beha-riors one finds that, each
time. Gladys was plainly jealous of
another woman. That sets one to
wondering whether 1t was not. after
all, the strong possessive instinct of
all woman, rather than any idiosyn-
cratic hatred of marriage itself that
was affecting the young woman. At
any rate, she finally subdued her dis
position and-well, you read the
story. for there is a side line of mod
ern domesticity that is graphic and
satirically humorous and, in other
ways. quite worth while. Besides, if
Gladys is able to capture your COM
plete confidence, she, too, will prove
interesting-but one suspects that
girl. even though she appears to be
acting in good faith.