Evening star., 1939-02-01
New Books at
Random
BIZ Margaret Germond.

Z
Goldman. New York: Coward
McCann, Inc.
Dan Hillyard, noted bank robber, plays
solitaire in the death house as the hour
set for his execution approaches. News
paper reporters gather for final inter-
view with the condemned man and to
cover the details of his untimely end,
among them Rufus Reed, red-haired po-
litical colunnist for the Fairmont Ex-
press. 1t will be remembered that Red"
Reed had covered police for the morn
ing Times before he went to work for
Asaph Clume, and those who have al
ready made the acquaintance of the
impetuous young reporter and his man
aging editor will welcome them again
as sleuths on the trail of murderer.
On his way back to his Office from
the scene of the electrocution Rufus sees
Ruby Hillyard, widow of the late bad
man, waiting for taxi and offers to
give her lift. She accepts and as they
ride along toward an intersection named
by Ruby as her destination he lectures
her on the danger Of carrying a gun
which he believes to be reposing in her
handbag. She reassures him by dump
ing the contents of the bag for his in
spection. 1t contains coin purse, lip
stick and rouge, a comb, cigarette
case and deck of playing cards.
Less than half an hour later Rufus
learns that Jackson Toliver, senior men,
ber of firm of criminal lawyers, has
been shot to death in his home, which
is LOCATED half block or so from the
intersection at which Ruby Hillyard left
his car. He hastens to the scene of the
murder and is present during the pre-
liminary questioning, which reveals that
Toliver's wife had seen him playing his
first and last game Of solitaire a short
time before she heard the shots that
ended his life
Thus begins an exciting tale of man
or Woman-hunting into which no Scot
land Yard men, no supercriminologist
and no professional detectives enter. The
Fairmont police, with Rufus Reed and
Asaph Clume to aid and harass them,
do the sleuthing and they do 1t fairly
well up to certain point. All mystery
fiction policemen, however, must neces-
sarily be stupid, and in this instance
they quickly spot their chosen criminal
and then attempt to force flimsy evi-
dence to fit the case. OF course, it re-
fuses to fit and Rufus gets himself into
serious difficulties trying to make them
see the errors in their reasoning.
feature Of the story that makes it
attractive to mystery fans is that it races
along with plenty of action and without
too many characters to keep clearly in
mind. jackson Toliver, his brother
Franklin and William Smedley as GRIM
inal lawyers with powerful influence,
have made many enemies. Edna, wife
OF Franklin Toliver, is a neurotic, self
pitying woman, jealous of Lucy Curtis,
whose dazzling blond beauty has in
tatuated her husband. Dick Lucas,
fugitive from justice for whose crime of
killing a policeman Dan Hillyard has
paid the penalty, arrives on the scene
in Fairmont and another murder is
committed. A third death is prevented
when well-laid trap designed to catch
RUFUS Reed springs the wrong way. But
another trap, laid by Rufus and Asaph
Clume, springs as 1t should and the tale
erds with the same group of newspaper
men, including the political columnist
OF the Express, interviewing another
condemned man in the death house
1t Is a lively story with all modern
trimmings and is told with a crispness
that crackles as it entertains.
n
CAUSE FOR ALARM. BY Eric Amber.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf
This is an up-to-the- minute news style
OF mystery tale dealing with espionage,
murder, Mussolnis secret police, mu-
nitions secrets and all the fancy dress
that usually accompanies the interna-
tional intrigue of fiction.
Nicholas NARROW, a gentle, trustful. ro-
mantle young Englishman, out of a Job
and wanting to marry eagerly accepts
an offer to go to Milan to take over the
managership of a machine tool company
following the killing by an automobile Of
the Milan agent. He goes to Italy with
the determination to live up to the faith
his employers have shown in him as well
as to lay the financial foundation for
life of harmony and happiness with
Claire.
On his first evening in Italy he stoops
to pick up paper while sitting at cafe
table and is surprised when an obliging
mirror shows him a mans hand drop
ping something into his coffee Caution
prompts him to consult chemist. and
as the liquid changes hands an unnoted
customer smashes the container. Enough
of the coffee is mopped up to analyze,
however, and 1t is found to contain a
deadly poison.
Within a few hours after his first ad-
venture the young Englishman begins to
suspect that he is marked for destruc-
ton, but for what reason is not made
clear until he discovers that the one
man who has apparently befriended him
and sought to guide him out of danger
is the enemy who is responsible for the
hair-raising adventures intended to re-
suit in his death.
Innocently drawn into web of inter-
national intrigue for which he has no
liking, NARROW settles down to the busi-
ness of seeking out the reason for the
murder of his predecessor, to untangle
the hodge-podge records and to clean
out the corruption in the Milan Offices
of his firm, to defeat the forces seeking
to steal international secrets and, If pos
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