Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1934-09-26
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret Cermond.

Margaret Cermond.
PATTERN IN BLACK AND RED. BY
Faraday Keene. Boston: Hough-
ton MinNn Co.
Under q somewhat far-fetched title,
and also under q misconception of the
nature of the superstitions which pre-
vail among the Negroes Of the South,
Faraday Keene presents her first full
length mystery novel. For both Of
these strains upon the imagination,
however, she Is pardonable. The title
may not have been originated by her,
and it is quite reasonable for those
who dwell in other parts of this
country and in other sections of the
world to assume that the many vari-
cites of superstitions which now and
again attract the spotlight of pub
licity bear q relationship in origin
and tradition. In fact, few of them
have grown out of related sources,
and only on rare occasions is an act
Of violence, committed In the fervor
OF some wierd belief, traceable to the
the South. The strange form of
witchery which has in recent years
been designated as "hex" is not of
Southern origin or tradition, nor Is
it In practice among the Southern
Negroes. The setting Of q mystery
story in an old Southern mansion
with a staff of bex-fearing servants
is bit out of tune, though this mis-
| understanding on the part Of those
involved in the events Of the nature
of the curse which for years had over
Swallowed the owners of Handsome
Creek does not in the least detract
from the general effectiveness of a
! first-class tale of murder and the de-
lection of its perpetrator.
| The i'll will of poor white neighbor,
declared in the form Of curse upon
the house and family of Avery Dunn,
had caused young Shadwell Dunn to
roam the world for the better part OF
his thirty-odd years. Not until he had
reason to believe that all Of those as
ISOLATED with the proclamation that
Handsome Creek was never to be in
herited by any descendant of Avery
Dunn had died did Shadwell return to
the ancestral home and settle down to
peaceful and comfortable life. Per-
haps all would have gone well in what
should have been a happy and con-
| tented household if Matthew Worries,
a man to whom Shadwell had been
attracted while in Africa, had not &C
cepted an invitation to visit Handsome
Creek when be came back to America.
Among the objects and relics which
Worries had brought with him from
the so-called heather places OF the
world Is an African fetch and several
other talismans carried by savage
tribes to keep the evil spirits away.
These symbols Of idolatry have the
immediate effect of striking fear into
the hearts Of the servants. In less than
thirty hours from his arrival Worries
| is found stabbed to death and pet
dog has died. The combination Of the
old curse and the strange heather
images are blamed for both tragedies.
Before the mystery Of the murder can
| be solved another death by violence
occurs, and attempts are made on the
lives of other guests.
The Department Of Justice Is called
upon-which Is not. Of course, possible
under the American system Of State
government-by Shadwell and hope
| lessly inefficient individual is assigned
to the case. A young man whose well
fare is at stake has different ideas
about the detection of the criminal,
| and his guardian, DR.. Ames, appears
| on the scene. AS the lad himself de-
scribes him:
You look out for him-hell sur
| prise you. As long as he's just kind
Of moderately wool-gathering and
wandery- eyed, he's normal. Normal
for him, that is. Meaning that his
mind isn't working more than a
hundred per cent faster than most
peoples But If he ever begins to look
like a total loss-just a shade more
vacant than a vacuum-as II he had
been born subnormal and then drop
ped on his head, If you get what
mean-then that old boy has stepped
on the gas and really started think
ing!"
A delightful group Of characters is
presented in a carefully designed
plot, and a lively interest Is sus-
tanned with excellent skill by this au-
thor. who is known to many readers
by her own name, Cora jarrett.
THE CLUE OF THE DEAD GOLD
FISH. BY Victor MacClure. Phila-
delphia: j. B. Lippincott Co.
On q blistering hot night near the
village of Crewshall, England, the
workshop Of George Anston and Tom
Thetford is destroyed by fire, and in
the debris q body believed to be that
Of Anston Is found. The first belief,
that a burning cigarette or a care
lessly thrown match had started the
blaze, is quickly dispelled when inves-
tigation reveals that a pyre had been
constructed around the body before
the fire had been ignited. An autopsy
proves that the man had been muir
dered first, and the fire skillfully man
aged to guarantee the destruction of
his body.
Inspector Burford of Scotland Yard
finds evidence indicating that Thet-
ford and not Anston is the victim
Of the murderer, and the disappear
ance Of the latter makes for an ap-
pearance Of guilt. Suspicion quickly
turns into fear, however, when it be-
comes obvious that a struggle against
a deadly foe has taken place on the
edge of q pond and that the person
who undoubtedly had been drowned
in those waters could not have been
carried back to the workshop and
burned.
A pretty and unusually attractive
girl with whom all the young men in
the neighborhood have fallen in love
adds to the complications which be-
set the case by withholding informa-
ton that might prove valuable, and
one young man falls under grave sus-
picion because of his stubborn re-
fusal to break promise he has made
to her.
| The body of Anston, which re-
sists persistent endeavors to locate it.
is finally recovered in dramatic cir
cumstances and Inspector Burford sets
diligently to work in gathering proofs
against the person, who from the be-
ginning, is quite obviously guilty. The
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