Evening star., 1938-07-20
NEW BOOKS AT
RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.

PEARANCE. BY Romilly Cavan. New
York: The Macmillan Co.
Mark Tristram Brown. hero Of this
tolerably amusing story, is just a nice
young man who believes in himself and
in his ability to become famous play
wright. He is the son Of green grocer
! who thinks that any young man should
be not only pleased but proud to in
herit his fathers business. Marks
mother, however, has a different view
point, and she has seen to 1t that the
boys education is Of the sort that gives
a foundation for professional success.
AS the story opens, Mark is entering
the front yard OF the Lode Star Inn,
an English wayside tavern, where he
hopes to meet the man who is to be
the central figure in a drama. Gareth
Marks imagination, and the visit to
the Lode Star is specifically for the
purpose of drawing inspiration from
seeing and possibly shaking the hand
of his idolized hero. Abby Sumsion,
elderly year round resident for the Inn,
welcomes Mark and soon has the young
man giving free rein to his belief in
the simplicity of the art OF writing sue
cessful plays. Mr.. Sumsion indulges
Marks vanity but gives him no hope
that the aviator will appear at the inn
on that day. He does, however, promise
that there will be plenty Of amusement,
and there is.
The Verify family comes along and
wherever this happy -go-lucky group ap-
pears there Is no lack Of entertainment.
Mark meets the family and reneWs his
acquaintance with Roger Verify, school,
mate. The family invites Mark to din
ner and he accepts. Aunt Milly Shil-
lingford, who conducts newspaper
column of advice to the lovelorn and
is also a master cook, turns out the
She also gives him plenty of pertinent
advice. Things happen every minute
in the Verify cottage, because the fam
lily happens to be the sort that lives
aimlessly and accepts each minute as
sufficient unto itself.
Mrs. Verify. mother of Angel, MORA
and Roger, is a pretty widow who is
still under forty and whose mind is as
free from care as an infants. Angel,
aged, fifteen, is ultra modern in thought
and in conversation, and Mora is the
one sensible member of the immediate
group though she is only an eleven-year-
old child. Roger, known as Bullie, is
the odd one, being neither a part of
the circle nor yet separated from it.
Aunt Milly. of course. is the anchor
which holds the family ship against
tide and high weather.
Marks first visit with the family
Verify ends in shame. He goes back
home and 1t is six years before he
makes his second trip to the Lode Star.
Meanwhile he has written a tragedy
which has proved a success, given him
brief season of fame and convinced
him that he has the ability to produce
many successful plays. Angels beauty
and perpetual chatter had intrigued him
on his first visit. He still remembers
the thrill Of kissing her. But when he
sees the Veritys again 1t is Mora who
captures his fancy-or rather, it is she
who decides the matter for him-and
before he quite realizes what has hap
pened to him she has convinced him
that he loves her. They marry, and
the story settles down to the usual prob
lens of life.
One success is all that Mark has in
him as a playwright. After his mar
riage to MORA he tries his pen at every
sort of play, from tragedy down the
line to cheap comedy, but somehow his
efforts meet failure. Aunt Milly, with
an eye to the security Of Moiras future,
has sent her to Paris to receive train
ing as dress designer. She is, of
course, a success and it is her ability
to earn the living that arouses char
acteristically masculine resentment in
Mark. The theme is threadbare and
Miss Cavan presents no new problems
for this pair of lovers to solve, but lack
of an original plot is counter balanced
by superabundance of idle chatter.
Conversation is SO plentiful that even
that part of it which might hold atten-
ton is lost before it reaches climax.
Miss Cavan is quite young and is now
living in London. She undoubtedly has
gift for story telling and a fine sense
Of characterization. 1t will be inter-
esting to note the development of more
mature work in her future novels.
MADMEN DIE ALONE. BY Josiah E.
Greene. New York: William Morrow
&Co.
Ii Is tOO DdQ tIldC C1e llTSJ mystery
novel of writer who gives evidence of
talent for producing this type of flc-
ton should appear with the handicap
Of title that is an out-and-out mis-
statement of fact. Two men are mur-
dered. Neither of them is insane, and
only one of the two is in any way con-
nected with the institution in which the
first death occurs.
Joseph Parisi. homicidal maniac in
Exeter Hospital and patient upon
whom Dr. Herbert Sylvester, brilliant
young psychiatrist, has been conducting
experiments, disappears not only from
his room but from the institution. Capt.
Prescott OF the Zenith police is noti-
fled Of the escape and general search
Is begun in the hope that the madman
may be captured before knowledge of
his escape reaches the public. Shortly
after his disappearance the body of Dr..
Sylvester is found in the small office
room which serves also as lookout
post for the hospital clerk. The suppo-
sition is that Parisi is the murderer
and later the same night the owner of
a gambling establishment near the busi-
ness place of Parisis father is mur-
dered IN the street, which seems to prove