Evening star., 1933-07-25
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margoyef Cermond.

M@eNee OeTmOn0s
CRIES IN THE NIGHT. BY J. H.
vaucluse," etc. New York: Z. p.
Dutton b Co.
J. H. Wallis is making rapid strides
into the foremost ranks Of American
writer's Of mystery fiction. In his four
former books he gave very definite
promise OF developing q dair for the
fantastic rather than for the usual
methods OF crime and murder. Not to
be content with the superfine In the
actual form Of taking life, he has gone
much further and created q distinctly
different type Of motive, before which
he parades his cast of characters in
patterns and figures a. confusing as
Chinese maze.
While both the method and the
motive In THE Capital City Murder"
were astounding, they were also logical
IN this modern day Of scientific sub
stitutes for practically all of the COM
use Of man. They were so logical, In
fact, that 1t was somewhat Of mental
shock to realize that devices accepted
quite casually In the daily application
Of science to practical uses could as
readily be turned into instruments for
the performance of fiendish deeds.
In Cries in the Night" the method
and the motive again Join hands for a
series Of murders Of Q uper-fantastic
character. Daphne Eden, q beautiful
and prominent actress, Is reported by
her husband to have been kidnapped
She is the fifth OF q chain of beautiful
women, all Of whom have reached the
heights Of success on Broadway, to dis
appear. And In each case no clues have
been left that might lead to the dis
covery of the victim. Each woman was
Of q different nationality, and each one
. perfect type of the feminine beauty
OF her native country. Daphne Eden
Is the first American girl to vanish.
In the middle Of the night q boat
house manager on pier in Manhasset
Bay is aroused from his slumbers by
what he believes in his first conscious
moments to have been the screams of a
woman. Before he can determine the
direction from which the screams came,
silence settles down upon the waters
Later he is aroused again by faint cries
for help. and on investigation he finds
the husband Of Daphne Eden marooned
tn an open boat, into which, he ex-
boarded the launch on which he and
his wife were spending q quiet week end,
bound and gagged him and kidnapped
her.
The disappearance Of Daphne Eden
brings to light the fact that all Of the
missing stage celebrities had invested
heavily in q finance enterprise known as
Artists Annuities. the announced pur-
pose Of which was to insure artists Of all
varieties against penniless and destitute
old age. This revelation brings an In
vestigation into the affairs of the COM
pany, which are found to be in an un-
sound financial condition, and the board
of directors proves to be comprised Of
group Of the most unlikely types of men
who could possibly be imagined to have
q common interest
Ward Rosser. manager Of Artists An
nuities, Inc, Is former banker; Striker
Thrawn, a multimillionaire, is the
head Of a big financial house; Morgan
Hopewell Is another multimillionaire
who is sometimes called the First Citi-
zen of New York; Willet Futro also is
wealthy and is the owner Of an inherited
laboratory operating in the interest of
oil, mining and drug companies: Arthur
iarde Is an artist whose reputation, from
his first appearance in New York. has
clair, husband Of Daphne Eden. is
not director Of the company and knows
little about 1t. He is known as a we'll
to-do sportsman. but his unconvincing
story of the pirates and the revelation
that he is . member of q rum-running
gang places him squarely in the list Of
suspects Suspicion and investigation
naturally center IN the members of this
group.
Manwhile. another beautiful actress,
/ Negress this time. is kidnapped as she
is walking along the street with the
prizeighter whom she is to marry. van
ishing as completely as have her
predecessors into the unknown Then
! Moeris Eden, twin sister of Daphne,
who has been active in the search for
the criminals, disappears on her way
| to keep dinner engagement
An arch criminal is certainly at work,
but Police Commissioner Hughes and
Inspector Jacks, both popular heroes of
Mr.. Wallis creation, are arch man
hunters. A promise Of thrilling enter
talnment is offered to those who follow
these two favorites of thousands of
readers of mystery fiction as they pit
| their wits and their training against
the cleverness and the ingenuity Of the
diseased brain that has devised and
executed monstrous scheme of abduc-
ton and murder. The story contains
all OF the elements which a first-rate
detective novel should possess-unusual
circumstances In the opening chapters,
shudders and thrills in proper propor-
ton, reasons for the legitimate suspi-
c1on OF many people, confusion of
theories as to motives and q delightful
| romance to round it out into an ex-
ceptionally satisfactory tale.
** *-*
THE EMERALD CLASP. BY Francis
Beeding, author of The Two Under
takers" etc. Boston: Little, Brown
& Co.
Surprises are naturally the things
that are mostly looked for in mystery
stories but there are many kinds Of
surprises. and it is the ambition of
every writer of tale of crime or in
trigue to devise the sort Of unexpected
progression Of events which no other
author has thought of. In "The Emer-
aid Clasp" Francis Beeding has accom-
pl1shed this feat In truly fascinating
story.
Rosamund Shipley at thirty-six is the
sole inheritor Of a comfortable estate in
Lavington. Sussex. For more than half
| her life she has been tied to the pro-
verbal apron strings of a complaining,
unhappy, invalid mother, whose only
interest IN life has been her devotion
to worthless, extravagant and willful
son. A motorcycle accident has brought
the son to an untimely end. and, sur
rendering to the shock, the mother
quickly follows him to resting place
beneath the sod.
With a surplus Of freedom suddenly
thrust upon her. Rosamund takes stock
| Of her possessions and finds that she
Is wealthy enough to see the world
from which she has been shut off for
the whole Of her life. and forthwith
makes arrangements to visit a former
schoolmate, Marion Knox, living in