Evening star., 1934-02-28
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret Cermond.

Margaret Cermond.
TWO O'CLOCK COURAGE. BY &C.
lett Burgess. indianapolis: Bobbs-
Merrill Co.
Some time between two o'clock and
dawn a man suddenly becomes con-
scious that he Is staggering through
an unfamiliar street and he wonders
why. He has q frightful pain in his
head, which he also wonders about,
and he feels uncomfortably III. Oc-
casionally he has been conscious Of
wiping his hands down his trouser
legs without knowing why. He is
considerably out of breath, and real
ICES that he has been trying to run.
His clothes are soaked with blood,
and he discovers that 1t is blood that
he has been trying to wipe from his
hands. In his pockets he finds q
pistol, a watch and some new hun
dred dollar bills. Ill and weak and
utterly lost, he filings the pistol away
and continues to stagger along until
he comes to a trolley line. and is sur
prised when a car comes along to
! find that 1t Is headed for Boston. He
struggles aboard and on his arrival
In Boston goes to small hotel.
Arrived in the hotel, he spends the
remainder of the early morning hours
trying to figure out who he is, where
he has been and what he was doing
somewhere on the outskirts Of Bos-
ton. His memory is entirely gone.
neither the marks in his clothing, the
picture In his watch nor his own face
in the mirror mean anything to him.
The hat he is wearing bears the ini-
tials u. s." He scrubs the blood
from his clothing and leaves the hotel
in search Of food, q newspaper and
some new clothing, paying for the lat
ter with one Of the new hundred dol
lar bills which he knows nothing
about getting.
The newspaper displays on its front
page the sensational story of the mur-
der Of John Saxon some time the
night before In the living room Of his
| luxurious home in Brookline. Every
| thing that the amnesia victim can re-
| call Of his wanderings during the
hours most nearly associated with the
time Of the murder points to the fact
that he must have been in Brook
line, and that he is undoubtedly the
| mysterious man in brown" who had
been seen staggering along in the
street in the neighborhood OF John
Saxon's house after two o'clock in the
morning. But he cannot remember
ever having heard Of John Saxon.
Did he commit the murder? II he
did, why? These two questions are
uppermost in the mind OF the man
who Is as much Of mystery to him.
! self as he Is to those who are seeking
to apprehend the man in brown. He
makes the acquaintance Of Harry
Hillyer, a young newspaper man, and
on the spur Of the moment, to cover
his embarrassment, he claims to be q
| fellow journalist, giving his name as
u. Steever." Hillyer soon suspects
him and the police keep him shad-
owed. He meets people who speak to
him as old acquaintances and his
efforts to meet their questions and
their conversation Squarely without
giving away his miserable plight are
most remarkably effective.
As u. Steever," he falls in love with
the millionaire daughter Of an oil
king, and in the same capacity he
picks up a starving waif on a park
bench and gives her food and a new
lease on life. 1t Is through the ef-
forts Of this waif, 10 Rodney, that
the mystery is eventually solved.
Saxon has been the owner Of a
theater and theatrical manager.
Though genial and polite. his tastes
have been those Of the rich voluptu-
ary, and his character utterly base.
Various people might have reason to
murder him. Olga Biscom. flashy.
vulgar, she-devil actress, had lost her
place in his affections. Lily Cloygd,
refined and artistic actress and es
tranged wife Of Sidney Jetland, was
| in danger of having her character
besmirched. Jetland himself had
reason to believe that Saxon's at
tentions to his wife were dishonor-
able. Maurice Bellinghampton, dis
tinguished and successful playwright,
had good reasons of his own for fear
| ing and hating Saxon. and John Shor-
| ball, dismissed chauffeur of the mur-
dered man. had threatened to get even
with him. Carlo Gheet, erratic musi-
clan, had been literally robbed Of his
Amati violin by Saxon. Mrs. Poole,
Saxon's housekeeper her daughter and
Edna Fish. the housemaid, all hated
| him.
During the early part Of the in
vestigation every individual who might
conceivably be guilty of the crime,
except j. Steever, produces an ap-
parently unbreakable alibi. But as the
testimony develops, it would seem that
the grounds surrounding the Saxon
house on the night Of the murder
were as thickly populated as was a
certain lane In New Jersey, which
came into sensational fame q few
years ago as the scene Of . double
murder which has never been solved.
Two O'Clock Courage" is q good
story for several evenings Of thor
oughly enjoyable entertainment. It
moves rapidly and smoothly, and the
mystery is accompanied by two pleas
ing love stories, but the complexity Of
detail necessarily lengthens it beyond
IIlC ICAo1lB GAllC VI IIlC hFCl dBC CllAic
novel. It Is the kind Of book that
bears going back to time and again
just for the fun Of retracing the rash
actions Of . man struggling desper-
ately to identify himself and to de.
termine whether or not he is MUIR
derer.
THE MYSTERIOUS MADAME 8. BY
Simone d'Erigny. Translated from
the French by Elisabeth Abbott.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co.
Over the after-dinner coffee Silas
Lorrain and his wife, Name, are dis
cussing with their friend Richard
Barnes, q retired oficer Of the law
and now a private detective, the mys-
ter1ous death of the formers ONCE
assistant, Jean Lempereur. Lorrain Is
a famous physician and scientist who
has devoted much study to the subject
Of the power of the mind over body.
While Name Is telling Richard Barnes
that she hated Lempereur enough to
have murdered him, and that his
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