Evening star., 1928-10-28

BY Gertrude Knevels. New York:
D. Appleton & Co.
"NOw don't let yourself go" Is what
my good old grandmother used
to say to me when I was little girl
rushing out into tantrum OF pure
temper Often this admonition rescued
me. And often since. like to think,
has it stood as a bar against futile and
devastating angers.
Reading "The Diamond Rose Mys-
terry" find myself thinking what good
thing it would have been for its author
If some guardian angel had whispered
to her, Nov don't let yourself 60" But,
obviously. this was not said and she
did 'let herself go" to the end that a
good start is so overloaded with hazard
and escape multiplied enormously as
to produce clearly inferior conclu-
sion
A most engaging girl opens the story.
Living in Greenwich Village she sup
ports Uncle Paul. whose sole interest
in life is to help and save the under
lings of the Slums. Uncle Paul Is done
in by these same objects of his care
and through this incident the matter
shifts to the Adirondack woods, where
band of lady gangsters support to
the letter Kipling's line as to the dead
illness of the female of the species"
The girl is brought into pursuit Of these
AmazonS by virture of secret mission
bequeathed to her by the dying Uncle
Paul This secret involves the finding
of the diamond rose" buried in the
woods, and its restoration to the owner.
1t is upon this foundation that the
author proves herself a provider Of
thrills and tensions which, properly
distributed. would serve dozen mystery
tales. One comes out Of the reading
with single picture-that of a young
girl mauled and abused and endan-
gered bedraggled barefoot, torn to rib
bonS. but still on her way. Her own
successful enterprise and a fairly
promising young man bring the mat
ter to confused and overworked end.
Comedy? Oh. to be sure, but comedy
elimination. the withholding hand, the
fear of excess.
THE REDMAYNES. BY G. E. Locke,
author of "The Scarlet Macaw," ETC.
Illustrated by Dean Freeman. Bos-
ton: L. c. Page & Co.
PLENTY of room-room in time and
room in space. These 1t seems
to me are the first essentials, the safe
foundation, for an effective mystery
story. And G.. e. Locke as a rule for
titles himself with these in the creation
Of his marvels and mysteries. For
instance Lord Redmayne spends many
years in Africa, far enough away from
his ancestral place in North England
to remain In perfect ignorance of any
sort of mischief that might brew there
in his absence Again, the roots Of
this matter go back many years in an
event calculated to sow hatreds that
time alone can bring to large har-
veSting. With such fore-handed prep
aration the author Is able to swing
along at good speed when the story
itself opens and gets on the road to
about as much pure villainy as even
the hardest author has the nerve to
culiar quality of its drama, for the deep
and brilliant color effect of its move
ments and situations. the romance is
something altogether different from the
current detective story, the average myS-
terry yarn. Almost with the vividneSS
and power of a human character itself
does the English moor-wide and bare
and bleak-contribute to the action
here, take part, as 1t were, in the dark
conspiracy that dominates the whole.
Another departure from the common
AOAt VI otO1ACo VI b4AAo AAA4A ~ SAAC 1h-
sence of the new detective-unbelie
able prodigy of logic and pursuit.
Something Of a relief to have him out
of this development. young lawyer,
friend Of the family. Is, to be sure, of
good service in the various dangers and
urgencies that arise. but he bears no
likeness to the prevailing fashion in
master detectives. A dark and grue-
some story whose chief claim to plaus-
ibility rests in the fact that the human
is capable of every sort Of departure
from the normal man that Is COM
monty known. Nevertheless, this Is an
absorbing adventure that holds fast
to the reader to its last word.