Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-12-23
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
MARGARET GERMOND.

xNCW 4OIh. HARPER q oTOS.
Who murdered Sir Edmund Berry
Godfrey? More than two centuries and
half have passed into history since
that question rose to the lips of the
small group of men who, on the dark,
cold, tempestuous evening of october II,
1878, hauled battered human body out
Of ditch at the foot of Primrose Hill
and carried it to John Rawson's tavern,
where 1t was identified as that of Lon
don's most staunch and upright Prot
estant magistrate. Historians and stu
dents Of the reign Of Charles II and Of
the famous "Popish plot" seeking to
unravel the mystery. have suggested a
number of solutions, yet the question
remains unanswered.
John Dickson Carr is a successful
writer of modern mystery fiction. The
murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey is, he
says, "a very nearly perfect detective
story" And on the theory that the case
of Sir Edmund is one OF the few actual
mysteries that can truthfully be claSsed
as more fascinating than the most
bafiling of mystery fiction, he has
plunged into the deep waters usually
reserved for more profound writers and
come up with a new and intensely inter-
esting recital of historic facts, aided and
abetted by the methods of technician
skilled in the art OF creating modern
popular thrillers.
Out of the chaos and turmoil of
seventeenth century England that he'd
a fear ridden people in its grip Mr.. Carr
has assembled the historic facts, the
statements and testimony of Infamous
liars, honest men and torture-weakened
innocents and presented them in orderly
procession. He takes up the various
theories concerning the reasons for the
murder and the agencies through which
it may have been committed and proves
them erroneous. He gives adequate
preparation to the uniformed reader in
a preface which outlines the political
conditions and identifies those who were
prominently associated with the opposing
factions of church and state. 1t also
introduces the reader to the idea OF
combining historic fact with the pleasure
of INDUCING in the same sort OF enter
tainment in deductive ability that at
taches to fictional mystery thriller.
A dozen possible solutions evolve from
the case as presented by Mr.. Carr. His
own theory is by no means improbable.
And though the answer lies buried be-
meath nearly three centuries Of civiliza-
ton, the novel commands and holds the
readers attention to the last word. 1t
is two-fold story, rich in historic re-
cital and compelling as fantastic tale
of crime in an unbelieveably ruthless era
of intrigue and injustice.
Washingtonians have a special interest
in John Dickson Carr, for many of them
remember him as the small boy who
preferred the companionShip of Uncle
Joe Cannon to school. and who developed
a genius for getting lost" if opportunity
offered the prospect of a game of craps
with a group of newspaper boys. He
was expected to carry on the family
tradition and study law, but colleges were
no more inviting than school. He went
abroad, roamed about with all sorts OF
people. including detective, and finally
turned to writing. 1T Walks BY Night"
was an immediate success, and this pres
emit volume is the twelfth bearing his
name. He has for several years been
living in England, where he has gathered
from authentic original sources the facts
from which he has reconstructed the
crime which in the seventeenth century
threatened the British crown.
x%
JOHN DAWN. BY Robert P. Tristram
Coffin. New York: The Macmillan Co
Four generations of hardy, seagoing
Dawns march through the pages of this
genuinely American story of love and
life on the Maine coast. Stalwart men
were these Dawns naughty, selfish. cruel,
courageous and irresistible to the women
they sought for wives. John Dawn, ship
builder and shipmaster of the small COM
munity of Merrymeeting, is the central
figue-the handsome, ruthless descend
ant of an earlier John who participated
in the struggles of the small settlement
in defense of home and property against
Indian raids, made love to women, in
suited his friends, hated those who had
more of worldly goods than he and willed
that the infant, born on the night the
story opens should be boy and that it
should not be born until the chimes of
the clock died away on the hour OF mid
night and the first day Of new year
had begun.
Ill-luck fell upon this particular John
Dawn and upon later John Dawns, who
somehow had habit of arriving on New
Year day when the sun shone brilliantly
upon q Snow-covered world. And into
far ports do these handsome, reckless,
self-willed men sail, living life to the full.
fighting the redcoats, taking up arms in
two wars with Great Britain, building
America conquering the sea, holding to
tradition and believing always in their
superiority over their neighbors, their
friends and all others who crossed their
paths.
Not altogether lovable men do they
seem when pictured against the broader
companionship and freedom OF Interests
that husbands of this generation accord
their wives and the women who COM
prise the friendly circle of the home, but
they are interesting and compelling in
the things that they do, in the beliefs
that they express and in the force OF
character which drove them through
those years in Americas history when
life was hard, comforts were few and
the call of the sea was a deep-rooted
heritage fostered by pride and honored
before all else except the call to the
country's defense.
Mr.. Coffin has a knowledge OF the
people of the New England about which
he writes that gives his stories quality
genuineness and sincerity. Those who
are familiar with his other novels will
not be disappointed in this story OF
clan that marched through fortune and
Ill fortune along with the changing years
on the rock bound coast OF Maine.
Still Dream.