Evening star., 1926-05-30
REVIEWS OF THE NEWEST BOOKS
One Doctor Looks Upon Bography-Mytery Story Which
Concerns Washington Life Story Of Howard Pyle,
the American nlustrator-Other Novels

strain upon its power to hold up.
However. there Is great beauty and
seriousness of thought here and there
in this curi6lIs tale of Christmas time
under the influence Of the oldest god"
intruding upon the rightful spirit OF
that time.
THE BLUE CAR. MYSTERY. BY
Natalie Suramer Lincoln. author Of
"The Cats Paw" etc. New York:
u. Appleton & Co.
A MOTHER murder mystery by
Natalie Lincoln, specialist in the
dramatization Of Capital City crimes.
The old Commodore. who here comes
to an untimely and shocking end, lived
over in the northeast. The house is
still there, so the author indicates.
And this means that again a certain
Washington reader will hurry away to
identify the place before the zeal OF
the local realtor has swept away an
other Of the interesting landmarks. all
Of which seem to him to be specially
odious and worthy of destruction. To
come back to the Commodore. One
morning he was found dead in his
library, his work scattered about him.
Here begins another of this authors
characteristic man hunts. There are
no known criminals in sight. Miss
Lincoln has nothing to do with this
class. On. the contrary, everybody
CLOSELY or even remotely related to the
Commodore Is respectable and well
considered.
Yet, after her own fashion, Miss
Lincoln hunts her man, or woman, not
too far away from the victims own
circle-doubtless upon the fairly sup
ported theory that every human has
within him the potentialities Of all
evil as we'll as of all good. One after
another of the CommOdOre'S own
household walks straight into the
readers suspicion without any ap-
parent effort on the part of the writer
to make him do so. Yet, there he is.
All sorts Of strange factors drift sig
niflcantly into the situation-the blue
car" among them. The mystery goes
/ on growing, no matter how near one
thinks, repeatedly, that he is sure Of
essentially wrong man. 1t Is interest
! ing-the way to this discovery. Be.
lievable and attractive people gather
here, comporting themselves becom-
ingly to their roles and circumstances.
Because Of this feature one does not
race along on the all-absorbing hunt
for the criminal. Interesting things
happen--things interesting in them.
selves despite their bearing upon a
vital and rather exclusive point. And
then-well. one Is certain that this
climax, when it does come, is. in the
authors opinion. as we'll as in our
own-the best ever.
4: 4: y -
CATS CRADLE. BY Maurice Barring.
author Of 1.-The Black Prince" etc.
Illustrated by Daphne Barring.
New York: Doubleday. Page & Co.
Ss A T. that moment the thread of
= his life crossed and caught that
Of Blanche's, and the fingers Of des-
tiny. with a deft movement. changed
the pattern in the cats cradle 6f their
lives" A clever title, you see, and
one 50 broadly applicable as to name
almost any story Of human inter
course. The author says Of It: cit is
a true story. The main facts, the
strange facts, are all true. You can
find the story itself in the old files Of
a newspaper" This final statement
prepares one for any sort Of unbeliev-
able adventure, since the days paper
conveys enough Of strange and star
tling truth to fortify romancers for
the rest of their lives with novels Of
poignant realism.
1t is a tragic story, having TO do
with an Italian princess Of great
beauty and its unhappy possibilities.
y story of love and sorrow. But Mr..
Barring Is opposed to any specific reve-
lation about the real pattern of this
true tale. A natural objection on the
part Of an author and one that should
be respected in the interest Of the
reader as we'll as in difference to the
writer's wish. So let us talk about
something else. The story Is too long,
much too long. for its content; much
too long for the crowded and hurried
days Of the present. Too many people
of too little variety OF personality
overtax the readers ability to take
care Of them all. The main facts, col
orful and significant as they are,
would have made a better romance
than this crowd Of people and Incl
dents and scenes succeed in doing.
Too many social affairs going on.
One Is hurried hither and thither to
teas and evenings and theaters and
operas in a bewildering uncertainty
as to when he left one Of these and
took on another. A quiet, overdelib-
crate, overcrowded tragedy which
sums to the truth that we build our
own lives. especially its sorrows and
regrets, through our own deeds and
not from the external pressure Of life