Evening star., 1934-06-27
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret Cermond.
THE CHINESE ORANGE MYSTERY

THE CHINESE ORANGE MYSTERY
BY Ellery Queen. New York: Fred
erick A Stokes Co.
On the tNenty-second floor of the
Hotel Chancellor in New York City
the suite of rooms occupied by DR.
Hugh Kirk and his son and daughter
is the scene Of temperamental out
burst directed at Miss DiyerSy, nurse
! and caretaker to the cantankerous
septuagenarian philologist. whose IA
vorite diversion is TO hurl epithets in
| ancient Hebrew, classic Greek, French
| and other languages at the docile
white-capped girl who serves him
comfort. Across the corridor. in the
Office rooms of the Kirk suite, Mr.
| James Osborne, secretary to Donald
Kirk, is deeply engrossed in the study
and cataloglng OF some rare stamps
, which have just been delivered to his
employer when Miss DiverSy, seeking
comfort and cherishing faint hope
| for spark OF romance, knocks ano
I is granted admission.
1t is SAB when Miss Diversy leave.
Mr.. Osborne. with All engagement tC
/ attend motion picture i'll the eve
ming as a result OF her visit One
minute later middle-sged man oi
undlstinguiShed appearance except fol
! his StoutneSS and his shabby attire
I asking for Mr.. Donald Kirk, is di-
rected to the Office Of Mr.. Osborne
Mr.. Kirk being Out, the gentleman. Oh
/ refusing TO see any one else, is in
Vited to wait in the ante room until
! Mr.. Kirk comes in.
AT Is minutes past G Glenn Mac
| goWan, nance OF MarCella Kirk ano
warm friend OF her brother, hurries
! in TO See Donald on urgent business
| but as that erratic young man has
/ not yet come in Macgowan scribbles
nasty note to be given to him a.
! soon as he arrives. The door barely
| closes upon MacgOwan when Mr.. Os-
( borne receives another caller ben,
I upon seeing young XIX, this time q
masnlflcently nodded and ermine- ClaC
woman, registered at the Chancellor
+ as Irene Llewes. to whom Donald has
/ been showing marked attention. il
/ Temple. recently from China with a
! book i'll which Donald Kirk, as pub
( fisher OF the Mandarin Press. is keenly
Z interested, enters the Office Of Nj, Os-
I borne as MISS LleweS is leaving. and
hatred flares Immediately as the two
! face each other.
7 Donald Kirk, Enthusiastically late
Tor the dinner 10 which he has H.
/ Vlted ID number Of guests, strides into
! The ofhce at quarter to 7 in the
company OF Ellery Queen, a friend OF
/ but slight acquaintance, who ha.
been asked 10 come " the party and
! To keep his eyes open. In addition to
/ those already mentioned. the dinner
/ guests include Felix Bernie, buslneS,
! partner oi Donald Kirk
, 1t is with huge sigh of relief tina;
James Osborne welcomes ms en-
ployer, for he has had an extremely
busy afternoon and his quickeneC
pulse is reminding him that his here
toiore COlorleSS lie has assumed q
! roSe-tlnted hue since Miss Diyersy
accepted his timid invitation to ac-
company him to a show. In the gen
: eral confusion incident TO the hur-
| ried ARRIVAL of Donald Kirk and the
/ delivery VI SO many messages. 1t is nc
/ wonder that the kindly and unaSSum-
! ing visitor who had been uSherec
/ into the ante room All hour or 50 ear
/ ller had slipped OsbOrne's mind. Just
as Kirk and Queen are starting ovel
T.. ka Ittrftn 81,
suite, Osborne remembers the man
who had given no name. and in a
/ spirit Of impatlence Kirk consents
! To see him.
. Striding over to the ante room
+ Donald Kirk turns the knob and, Il
his amaZement, finds the door locked
3 The only fastening being a bolt or
the ante room side, it looks as Though
the man had entered with burglariou.
intentions and made sure OF no inter
ruption from the office The three
men 60 around TO the other entrance
on cross corridor. md the door un-
locked and enter upon a scene o
utter and incomprehenSible disorder.
All the furniture is reversed; tn,
pictures are turned face 10 the wall
the rug is top down. the grandfather
clock has its back to the room, tht
/ table is turned with the drawer TO the
wall and the bowl of fruit standing
upon it is upside down: the lamp:
are resting on their shades; the two
bookcases which had f1anked tn,
doorway have been shifted 50 tina
one forms an acute angle with th'
door. and half behind 1t, lying Clos,
! 10 the bOlted door. Is the stlif body d
| the unknown man. his bald skull
/ spattered with red, his arms crumplec
under him. and two African spear
prutruding like horns from under hi
coat collar. Examination shows thai
the mans clothing has been removed
and from skin out put on again II
reverse.
Inspector Queen, Sergt. Velie, DR.
Prouty, Ellery Queen and other famil'
lar characters in the Queen mySterie:
enter into the investigation. To the
inspector the matter of prime I'M
portance is to identify the murdered
man, but not until the very end o
the case is that knowledge forthcom
ing. Ignorance of the victims name
where he came from, and why h
wanted to see Donald Kirk makes i
impossible to establish a motive fo'
his Staying. No one evenly remotel!
concerned in the affair had ever seer
the man before. and yet the lives o
the millionaire publisher and cOllec'
tor, his charming sister, his decrepi
father. the young writer from China
the bewitching adventures, the etn-
cient secretary and the s0rely abused
nurse find their lives strangely af
fiicted and affected by the murder o
the nameless man who came appar-
emily from nowhere.
Ellery Queen is not so much con.
cerned in establishing the man!
identity as he is in tracing the fan
tastic pattern of backwardnesS il
which the murder was framed, anC
in uncovering the mental processe!
of the person who conceived the gro.
teSQue method of its execution
Woven into the weird design of tn,
mystifying crime are such unrelated