The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-04-23

twenty.three welfare" organizas tionS. she speaks publicly three times Q week, and privately al- ways. "She could convince anyone of the exact opposite of anything she maintained. including the man from whom she had lifted her ideas in the first place"
 This book stands up with Sim, clair Lewis best works to date. He writes sharply and with enthusiasm that almost seems to bubble out of him. It Is Lewis hitting on all four motors, and that Is just about the same as giving you a guarantee of your moneys worth.
 HEADLESS BODIES-BR-R.R!
 WHEN you get lot of laughs with a murder story that features the horriflc double staying that finds the wrong head on the wrong body, you've got sumpin'l Especially when you might have been sated with an overabundance of crime stories that ring practically the same bell.
 Such a yarn is Craig Rice's Hay ing Wonderful Crime" (Simon & Schuster: $2). You've probably met the characters before-Malone, the hard-bitten Chicago lawyer, Jake Justus. the ex-reporter, and Helene, his heauteous wife. All as usual. take an active and individual part in solving the mystery. All get into hot water. All are characters you know in real life-Malone drinks like fish. yet he has a keen mind; Jake loveSh his wife, yet he loves a would-be career as novelist: Helene Is an ever-loving mate, but just can't keep from sticking her fingers in the mystery solving pic.
 Author has done Q swell job of characterization and has built up a plot that will puzzle you. even though you pride yourself on solv- ing all mystery stories in the first chapter.
 GET AWAY FROM IT ALL
 MAYBE you've had the sup pressed desire to roam the north woods. to pal around with back woodsmen, feel your muscles develop over portages. and pace the little-known trails through the un- charted fastness of the near-Arctic regions. All of us have felt the urge to make a fortune in the mineral wealth of farnorth Canada, the get- away -from-it all feeling and the yen to conquer unknown places like the voyageurs of the early days of our continent.
 You1l feel right at home in reading P. c. Downes Sleeping Island" Lippincott: $3.50) by the fire or out in the back yard. DowneS is an eScapist-a school teacher in his more lucid moments, he hieS himself off to the hinterlands of Canada in his off time; his result ing adventures are more interesting than the most fanciful of fiction. You'll get a boot out of reading this book, and maybe you'll wind up be- coming an explorer of the great un- known area of the United States and Canada in your old age. It grows on you, does this book.
 
 AN ENIGMA
 TLEC DE MONTMORENCY, with almost fanatical admiration for the late Admiral Jean Darlan. gives his answer to the puzzle of the career of the late chief of the French navy in "The Enigma of Admiral Darlan" (Dutton: $25O. M0ntmorency's viewpoint Is clear. Darlan could do no wrong, even though he had a thirst for power, houndless amhi- ton, and was . Monarchist in poli- ties.
 Nevertheless. readers may get a vastly different picture and pos sibly no two will see him exactly as Mohtmorency sees him. Darlan Is painted in human colors and the book is conducive to a better under standing of the confused maze of French politics. Had not the war intervened. a French revolution might have oc- cured and in spite cf the var. this revolution Is now going on. The book is must reading for anyone ! whom wants better understanding of France as it was. is. and will be. |