Evening star., 1924-08-24

| heard so long. On the other hand
| there is the adventurer whose out,
farings and occasional retreats make
up this story. This is the second
| time lately that we have come upon
| a bad woman as the heroine of
novel, a heroine and a bad woman
| and this is the pofnt-who is beauti-
| full and intelligent, gracious in man
| ner, warm of heart. winning in every
way An unfair advantage to take
when all of our prepossessions go
quite the other way. We expect good
| women to be beautiful, though they
| so often are not. We certainly do
] not expect bad women to be-but
here is Sandra with her challenge to
our traditions. This second novel,
however, retreats at the last minute,
| measuring out to this sinner the full
| bitter measure of her proper punish
| ment. The first one on this theme
| that we read gave to the sinner the
rewards of her courage rather than
the penalty of her misdeeds. One
wonders.
THE STORM-CENTER. BY Burton
! T.. Stevenson, author of "A King in
Babylon" etc. Frontispiece by
| Edward C. Caswell. New York:
Dodd, Mead G. Co.
With his own peculiar twist of the
wrist Burton Stevenson can make
| and unmake kings as neatly as
good housewife can turn an omelette.
| The craft of courts is his daily fare.
International plots and foreign in
! trigueS appear to have been his own
! special birthmark. Set him down
| anywhere-proVided the spot be of
! the distant and bizarre variety-and
he falls naturally into the business of
creating drama and projecting ro-
mantle adventure. good story
| teller who gets away, and gets away
brilliantly, with all manner of i'm
| probable stuff The case in hand
bears witness to both the improbable
ity and the brilliancy The storm
center" right here is an Arab ruler
| dreaming of empire. The love of
Allah is in his heart balanced by a
! deep hatred of the foreigner. willy
| and able man who thinks like a king
and behaves like a Cad-both att-
tudeS oriental in design. To make
! the story go there is brought to this
| desert spot a fanatical old scientist
whose passion for archaeology quite
obscures any consideration for his
| pretty daughter, Patricia, capable as
| SiStant in his scientific plans. Be-
| side these two there are an Irish
| American and two mysterious Stran-
| gers, an engaging man and a capti-
| waiting lady. These are the elements
which, in the adroit hands of this
author resolve themselves into the
| pattern and colors of prime adven-
ture, with kidnapping, seduction. mur-
der, escape and pursuit-some of
these in mere design and some in
| full ievement-marking the high
points of an resCapade that finally
drifts away out of these high ardorS
into neat wedding plans for four out
| of the whole motley of. men and
events here so ably and entertaining
| ly presented.
ATAVAR. BY Arthur Reeve. author
of Craig Kennedy Listens In etc.
New York: Harper & Bros.
Another Craig Kennedy novel. For
the sake of a new case tied in extra
hard knots for kennedy'S straight
| ening. Arthur Reeve produces Natalie
LiSle. Natalie is one of the new kind
that noVelistS are nowadays eating
alive-young, beautiful, filled with
the new freedom for women. Besides,
| in the case of Natalie there is also
the double personality, which is, at
the moment, offering many a loop
hole of escape for the hard pressed
novelist. a purely primitive forbear
at times holds possession of the girl.
| some nocturnal prOwler that drives
l
in the moonlit shadows in the sketch
lest of attire. A devastating girl,
who by day enthralls the modern
youth around her. and who by night
| enchantS the men that, beneath the
| garb of convention are of savage
strain like the girl herself Among
the latter is Guy Hawtry, man of
a hundred loves and a hundred cor
responding hates. Then one day Guy
! I II.,x ic. Il. -
! from this moment that Craig Ken
nedy takes possession of the case.
| whose pursuit is. on his part, about
equally divided between extricating
the innocent Natalie, toward whom
suspicion turns, and discovering the
actual perpetrator of the crime. This
double purpose imposed upon Ken
nedy enlarges the borders of the ad-
venture till its background covers
not only about all of the dazzling
scenes of New York night life, but
expands as well to include a treasure
! hunt through the old pirate hauntS
| of the West Indies. A better-than-
usual diversion for the admirers of
Craig Kennedy. detective, since it
pits him picturesquely and plausi-
! bly, against the involved and excit-
| ing complex of the present bewild-
ering pattern of immediate life.
THE SECOND CHANCE. BY Mrs
Wilson Woodrow. author of sally
! Salt" etc FrontiSpece by Howard
Chandler Christy. New York: w.
| j. Watt & Co.
! A pure love story, whose complica
| tions are of variety and quality to
deepen the romance here and there
to the colors of adventure itself. A
| lovely lady, the heroine, suffers the
misfortune of gathering to herself
i the reputation of adventures.
Around her suspicious gather of SO
dark a portent as to implicate her
in an assault upon big business as
! this is represented by certain Ken
lucky coal fields. Business, threat
ened, pursues her and men of secret
service type are dead certain that
| this is their proper quarry. All man
ner of hectic plans surround the
| lady for her ultimate undoing. Even
| the engaging Kentuckian who loves
| her, and whom she loves, suspects
| her of a raw race-horse deal against
| him. This, being in the main Ken
| lucky story, it is nourished in large
, parts by the stables and the course.
After almost unimaginable depths
| for the lady. the skies clear. suspi-
cion flies away, and the lady rises
| in the majesty of her own undiSputed
| purity and beauty to make the young
Kentucky judge the happiest man in
all the world. A bright story, of un-
eXacting quality, that is calculated
| to give a pleasant turn to dull