Evening star., 1933-03-21
NEW BOOKS
; AT RANDOM
M. G..

|, NJ. G.
DARKNESS AT PEMBERLY. BY T..
H. White. New York: The Cen
tury Co.
Darkness and crime join hands and
stalk boldly through and about Penn
berly house, scattering along the way q
series Of deeds calculated to break the
stoutest Of human courage and nerves.
The perpetrator Of these terrifying
lessons" to those who abide beneath
the roof Of Pemberly Is not an unknown
and unheralded quantity. He Is . man
known TO the inspector Of police in
person. and known by the residents OF
Pemberly, - well Is by the chief in
spector, as Q murderer. The element OF
mystery appears In the ability Of the
criminal to enter Q completely locked
and guarded house, and to enter any
and all rooms within the house, locked,
bolted and guarded though they be,
commit some disconcerting depreciation
and depart without leaving any trace
OF his entry or exit.
As the story opens, two men are dis
covered dead, one Of them q fellow Of
st. Bernard's College and the other o
freshman. First appearances look as
though 1t were . case Of murder and
suicide, but investigation proves that
the suicide case" died first, so the
machinery of tracking down q murderer
is put In motion. The criminal is soon
identified, and he not only Immediately
confesses to both murders, but boasts
Of his cleverness in committing them,
and then defles the chief inspector to
prove him guilty. It Is losing game
for Inspector Butler and he knows It,
for not q shred Of evidence against Mr..
Mauleverer exists and there were no
witnesses to his deeds. Furthermore,
by the time he makes his confession
he has murdered another man, again
destroyed all evidence of his connee-
ton with the deed, and in the relation
Of details rs to how he committed the
first two crimes he instructs the in
spector where to find the body Of the
third.
Knowing that he cannot possibly
convict his man, or even bring him
under arrest, the inspector resigns and
goes for vacation with his old friends
at Pemberly, Sir Charles and Lady
Elizabeth Darcy. It Is then that the
mysterious attacks upon members Of
the household begins.
Imagine going to sleep in . room
with windows and doors locked and
bolted and . sentinel standing guard
outside the door, and awakening in the
morning to find a caricature. drawn
with q ipstick. staring from the face
Of q mirror! Or imagine sitting in a
dark room, all set and waiting for an
attack which Is sure to be made, and
then when the criminal steps on your
foot you switch on an electric torch
only to find the room empty and no
sign that any one has entered or left
it! Such incidents and experiences are
plentiful in Darkness at Pemberly.'
while the elusive Mr.. Mauleverer avoids
every trap set for his capture and
gleefully schemes the defeat of every
move of his victims to prevent the
achievement Of his avowed intention to
murder Sir Charles.
Even though the long recitations by
the murderer are bit tiresome, every
word Is worth while and to the point,
and the evolution of this weird tale is
an interesting and satisfactory piece
Of workmanship.
THE CLUE OF THE EYELASH. BY
Carolyn Wells. Philadelphia: J. B.
Lippincott Co.
In the creation of Fleming Stone,
Carolyn Wells introduced figure in
detective fiction who has from the be-
ginning held an affectionate place in
the hearts Of the inveterate readers of
mystery literature. For Mr. Stone is
not too much Of q psychoanalyst to
be painful and not too little of one to
be just . commonplace detective. His
handling of the various "cases" in
which he has figured has always been
logical enough to be within the COM
prehension and understanding of the
average reader. and at the same time
psychological enough to make his career
as an investigator worth following.
1t SO happens that in this new case
Mr.. Fleming Stone is taking a Fourth
Of July holiday at Golden Sands, on
Long Island. As he starts on his trip
he meets an old friend, also bound for
the Fourth. Stone Is invited to join
the party and accepts, arriving at
Greencastle to find that the host, whom
he has never met, has been murdered
The 4th of July proved an ideal day
for so distArdly q crime, inasmuch as
the noise Of many varieties Of firecrack-
ers made the report Of . discharged re-
volver indistinguishable from any Of the
other detonations which usually mark
the celebration of the national birthday
So the discovery Of the murder was not
made until the host failed to appear
for dinner.
Lawns, beach, porches and house had
been filled with visitors and guests all
day. A number of the throng were
members Of the house party, and any
or all of them might have had the op-
portunity and q motive for killing Wiley
Vane, wealthy collector OF old coins. rare
books and antique carlos. With q
beautiful wife, an equally beautiful
adopted daughter and wealth. he was
perhaps a man to be envied, but being
very likable and amiAble individual
himself, as we'll as handsome and at
tractive, 1t was dif1cult to determine why
any one should want to get rid Of him.
It is a problem which causes Fleming
Stone considerable concern in the begin
ming, but with his usual patience, de-
termination and attention to small de-
tails he triumphs.
The first and only tangible clue to
the murder Is . single eyelash, found on
the cheek of the dead man. Inspector
Rowland and the police spurn this tiny
bit of evidence, but it leads to many and
bigger things. The eyelash Is . false
one, the sort used by women generally
to enhance the natural charm Of the
eye. 1t develops that practically every
woman in the house uses false lashes.
Circumstances point to the pretty Ste
nographer, but she, too. Is found muir
dered, and things become more COM
plex. An eyelash IS an eyelash, how
ever. TO Fleming Stone, and the owner
ship Of that particular eyelash which he
found on the cheek Of Wiley Vane was
q clue worth following.
-
MURDER AT SUNSET GABLES. BY
Dean Hedernan. New York: Duf-
field d Green.
The unlovable and generally detested
master Of Sunset Gables, Henry Duane,
Is found dead In his library, and nobody
~riavae op rapAe h,,t y1n,,rdap a yn,.pdar