Evening star., 1925-05-31

| And when the grim and excellently
constructed story comes to an end.
| get into the sunlight and dry and air
| yourself out of the mood that the
story imposes. Good work. That's
why it's effect is SO unacceptable.
THE SHADOW CAPTAIN. BY Emi.
lie Benson Knipe and Alden
Arthur Knipe. authors OF The
| Lucky Sixpence," etc. New York:
Dodd, Mead & Co.
If ghosts be permitted to draw sat
isfaction from the durability of their
| fame on earth, then the spirit OF
| Capt. William Kidd must have had
many a complacent hour over the
| fact of outlasting a host of better
men in the remembrance of posterity.
1t is now two and quarter centuries
since the notorious buccaneer was
| convicted of piracy and hung for
murder. Yet today adventure gathers
around him In freshness that denies
! the intervening years and sets one
/ off, hot-foot, in pursuit of the leg
endary treasure so long associated
with the name of Kidd. Here a new
romance of the old theme re-creates
as the background of action colonial
New York at the opening of the eight
eenth century. Within this setting
the hiding place of the treasure
shifts and wavers like q will-o the
wisp. Around these points of lure
| adventurers Of high and low degree
| gather, all equally versatile and
adept in the ways of crime. And
romance marches with the treasure
hunt, for Mistress Kidd herself lends
| sharp rivalry to the chase by herself
becoming an object of pursuit. And
is ii true that, after all, another man
was hung on Tyburn Hill In place of
| Kidd, that he was secretly set free
and is here playing a part in the
game going on around him? Or Il
this merely a novelist's device to
keep interest on edge? II reads like
truth at any rate. for this Ia not a
loose -jointed makeshift of invention
crudely gathered up out of odds and
ends of old incident. On the con
trary. from it's setting of time and
place on through d line of action com
porting with the period in It's modes
of behavior now looked upon as Ut
terly lawless this is a compact and
consistent drama of striking effect az
whose center moves dimly the figure
of that fascinating old pirate Capt.
William Kidd.
MIRRORS OF NEW YORK. BY Ben
Iamin de Casseres. author OF The
ShadoW-eater. etc. New York.
Joseph LaWren.
WITH his looking glass in hand
Benjamin de Casseres makes %
little sallies into the streets Of New
York. With a Dean Swift smile on
his face he turns the mirror this way
and that, picking out folly and foible
and fantastic futility. These rehec-
tions he turns into words for the
sake of getting them into print and
I -, 49,,
| OF these words strung together in
shining loops and glittering ropes that
causes one to stop and look and
listen. They are sounding words.
That's why you listen. They are
words with strange faces. That's
why you look. They are put TO odd .
uses. That's why you ponder them.
Sometimes you know what the young
man is talking about. Sometimes
you don't. But all the time you are
englamoured with this street show so
| you follow at the heels of this street
entertainer as he talks of complexeS
and psychologists and psycho-analyses,
all applied TO some part of the
anatomy or the mind or 70 the sou!
of the big town. After d little he
loses something of his bumptious be
ginning-merely a gesture to catch
the crowd, one assumeS-and then he
is delightful. With him you hunt
for lost corners" and drift into
"favorite corners" But in a moment
he is off again, this time on some old
lost booze trail or other relic of
happier days. Yes, you go along
even then, for no knowing at what
moment this smiling philosopher
grimly smiling philosopher-Uin
strike another vein of rich wordiness
: and not inconsiderable thought. An
odd man, the author Of four books,
! with bakers dozen in preparation.
A circumstance that pretty well in
dicates the author-don't you think?
THE MISSING INITIAL. BY Nats
lie Summer Lincoln, author OF The
Trevor Case" etc. New York: D.
Appleton & Co.
Another Washington murder sets
Miss Lincoln again to the rounding up
| of her customary bounttful supply or
possible murderers. The deed might
Z have been done by one Of the star
of the British embassy, or by a leis
ured man of the town and the fASh-
ionable clubs, or by a Russian OF
fascinating front and no visible means
of support. or by a Spanish tutor. or
by a beautiful lady-or by any one OF
half a dozen others whose looks and
behaviors carried unmistakable tinges
of guilt. once attention was called To
! them. The murdered man had host
I
| great grief to any one and certainly
| a relief to many. But the ways OF
, justice might be pursued, and so there
Is here the greatest to-do, all interest
, ing, with each move making little
headway other than to tie the puzzle
into an even tighter knot than had
held il before. This Is Miss Lincolns
method. this deepening of the mys
, terry by pointing suspicion in 40
different ways at once. Then at the
simplest possible lines of motive and
subsequent crime and means OF con-
cealment And one of the group
steps out as the clear criminal. The
clue here. the missing initial, serves
we'll enough to entangle innocent peo-
, pie at first, but finally to play its sub
stantial part in the final moment of
detection. This competent novelist
does more than to ferret out crime.
For instance, here she carries for
. ward two perfectly good romances
that come to their legitimate climax
within the turmoil of the mystery
matter. The Washington atmosphere
is here in so clear a registration that
one is promising himself a circuit of
the districts wherein this exciting
matter took place. just to get the feel
OF the strange things that happened
in this particular house or that one.
If DREAMS COME TRUE. BY
Alice Ross Colver, author of "The
Dear Pretender." Illustrated by
Frances Kratz. Philadelphia: The
Penn Publishing Co.
mi