Evening star., 1934-06-13
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margwet Cermond.


Little, Brown 81 Co.
As the last minute before the regu-
lar morning Communication train was
to leave Sandywayes Station di-
minished into seconds the three pas
sengers seated in the coach which
they humorously called the Club car
had about concluded that this would
be the morning that the fifth member
of their select group-who always
managed just not to miss it-would
arrive too late. But as the guard had
the flag half raised and was about to
blow the signal whistle Mr.. Roland
Martin appeared-in q sorry state
of nerves and looking as though he
were about to suffer stroke Of apo
plexy. The fourth member of the club
car company, Mr.. Samuel lesson, had
not been expected on the train that
morning as he had said that he would
be engaged in Sandywayes during the
early hours of the day.
When Mr.. Martin recovered his
breath and some of his composure 1t
was learned that he was the bearer of
the unhappy news that lesson had
been found dead in his garage half
an hour before. with a bullet hole
in his chest, a revolver near at hand,
and a note addressed to his wife ex-
planning his rash act. lying beside
his body.
SandyWayes being one of those
Eden-like English suburbs boasting a
small and exclusive population, these
five neighbors and fellow commuters
felt that they knew each other pretty
well, and each of them had a fair
knowledge concerning the financial
status of the others. The suicide note,
indicating heavy losses and money
difficulties, dealt a double shock to
lessons friends, for he was believed
to be wealthy, and he was known to
be happy in his domestic affairs. An
inquest was held, and a verdict of
suicide rendered, after Mr.. James
Huitt, manager of the Aldwych
branch of the famous banking house
of Barton's, had testified that lesson
had withdrawn large sums OF money
and securities in recent weeks without
disclosing the nature Of their disposal
In all too short time after the
untimely death of lesson another
tragedy descends upon the once quiet
community Of Sandywayes. Anthony
Sarson, son of a wealthy wine mer-
chant, is knocked unconscious in the
dead of night within a few feet of
the bungalow of Nine. de Sayal, q
mysterious woman living in seclusion
and Claiming to be a painter. when
he attempts to investigate the appear
ance of a strange car in charge of an
insolent chauffeur on private road.
The next morning an unidentified
man, who later turns out to be O ia
nous London banker, is found mur-
dered a short distance from the scene
of young Sarson's assault. Being un-
able to account for his groggy ap-
pearance and his actions during the
night. Sarson is suspected of being
the murderer.
While the community is still wading
through the turmoil which the mur-
der has caused, another member Of
the club car group is reported to
have committed suicide in the ONCE
of Mr.. Huitt, shooting himself in the
bankers presence The Earl of Mil
haven. deputy lord lieutenant of the
county, living at beautiful Sandy
wages Court, again offlciates at an in
quest and the verdict is suicide.
Meantime, a young man named
Christopher Tyssen. declaring himself
to be newspaper man who has for
saken his profession to become q
writer of fiction, has made himself
most obnoxious to several of the
residents of Sandywayes by at
tempting to become friendly in q
neighborhood which prefers to cold
shoulder strangers within its boun-
daries. TySsen's activities are as
myterious as the novel which he Is
supposed to be writing, and his avid
curiosity about other peoples busi-
ness tends to make him as popular as
smallpox with those whose good will
he seeks to cultivate.
Inspector Penny of Scotland Yard,
handling the case Of Sir Julian Bott,
the murdered banker, eventually gets
to the bottom of an amazing scheme
Of embezzlement and forgery, directed
by the shrewd and fearless master
mind of a man whose cruelty and
heartlessness knows no bounds and
whose integrity and honesty have
never been questioned by his friends
and neighbors.
The story Is intensely interesting
and typically characteristic Of the
Oppenheim mysteries in the swiftness
of its action and the accuracy of its
narration. Its thrilling climax Is q
surprise which will cause even the
most clever of reading detectives" to
admit defeat.
THE PLAGUE COURT MURDERS.
BY Carter Dickson, author of
The Bowstring Murders" New
York: William Morrow & Co.
The ghost of Louis Playge, common
hangman OF the Borough of Tyburn,
who died in 1865, is the startling
focal point Of this wierd tale OF mys-
terious deaths and evil influences
which have periodically cast gloom
and fear over the lives of the descend
ants of that ill-famed public Official
Plague Court, abandoned and in
ruins for many years, would seem to
be a good place to keep away from,
but despite its horrors certain mem
bers of the Halliday family determine
to brave its terrors and, through the
good Offices Of a noted medium, to
drag the ghost out into the open and
exercise it.
Believing that the evil spirit of the
long-dead Louis is endeavoring to
possess the body of young Dean Hal
liday, extravagant preparations are
made for a seance In the ruins of
Plague Court, during which the me-
dium is to lay the ghost. The young
man who is marked as the victim of
his ancestors prowling spirit, how
ever, takes a different view of the
matter and allows a friend in whom
he has confided to invite Detective
Inspector Masters, ghost-breaker of
Scotland Yard. to be present in an un-
official capacity, and without his
identity being disclosed to those gath
cred for the spiritualistic party.
From the moment that Halliday, his
friend Blake and Masters enter the
gates of the haunted estate mysteries
of extraordinary origin and effect oc-
cur so rapidly that it is a breath
foIfynn frh Lrn..~ 49, ,-.sAL