Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-15
CRIME AND MYSTERY
A SECRET UNDERSTAND
ING BY Merle Miller. (Vik-
ing Press: $3.)
By MIRIAM GUTENBERG

A SECRET UNDERSTAND
ING BY Merle Miller. CVik-
ing Press; 49,
Now we welcome - with
cheers the suspense fiction
debut of another serious nov
elist. The author of That
Winter" and Reunion" APP
plies a telling narrative tech
nique to a cloak-and- dagger
affair that might have sagged
in less Skillful hands. A mag
azine writer gone paunchy
and content since his OSS
days is assigned a killer-diller
of a yarn-if he can make it
come off. He's supposed to find
the time hero who became
a Communist tool and disap-
peared soon after coming
home from prison camp. The
writer, in the course of his re-
luctant search is forced I'LL
timately to examine all the
facets of courage. Mr.. Miller
has a great deal to say beyond
the confines of plot and he
says IT with compassion and
thought provoking effective
ness.
BORROW THE NIGHT. BY
Helen Nielsen. civilian
Morrow and Co.; $2.75D
Letters signed Mr.. Justice"
warn the arresting officer and
the sentencing judge in the
case of a convicted murderer
that they will die when he
does. Twenty-four hours re-
main. This is the story of that
"a hours, an artful combina-
ton of manhunt, battle of
wits and shifting suspicious.
Don't jump to any fast con-
illusions. The clues are fairly
planted but the author is a
master Of instruction.
STORM OVER PARIS. BY
Sterling Noel. tFarrar.
Straus and Cudahy: $50
The first officer of an Amer
lean freighter is picked UP by
an international police organi-
cation simply because he looks
exactly like a minor criminal
this outfit has just liquidated.
About then, the plot goes hys-
terical. Name a crime-any old
crime from kidnapping to
counterfeiting-and you'll find
1t here. Our hero is constantly
pounded with fists and pep
pered with shot. But Super
man Wins Through.
-
LET DEAD ENOUGH ALONE,
BY Richard and Frances
Lockridge u. B. Lippincott
Co.; $2.50)
A New Years house party
turns from gayety to grim
ness as the host is found dead,
a blizzard isolates the house
and the power fails. Despite
the dead mans psychiatrist-
wife insisting that her husband
committed suicide, Capt.
Heinrich subscribes to the
murder theory. AS we'll he
might. considering everything.
The Lockridges manage a neat
double-chill "a cold setting
and a cold killer. One of the
best of the Heinrich tales.
DARK INTER. BY
Cathleen Schurr. tRinehart
& Co.; $2.750
The locale dominates this
tale Of film company murder.
Nearly all the action - and
there's plenty of it - takes
place in film manufacturers
plant where total darkness is
enforced almost all the time.
Thus. when the hero stumbles
over a corpse, he can't be alb
solutely sure it's there and no.
body wants to waste thousands
of dollars worth of film on a
bunch. An original first mys-
terry.
RUN. BY Margaret Shedd,s
Doubleday and Co.; $500
The murder victim is baby,
a little over a year old. The
suspect is his half-brother, a
boy of Is. The story is the
story of a day in the life of
this frightened boy, hunted
after he is seen running away
from the house where the
baby is found stabbed with an
ice pick. In this well-written
book, the author builds sus-
pense as she reveals her char
acters. adults and children to
whom too much has happened
that cannot be forgotten. One
of them - perhaps a child -
has sought a solution in a
baby's murder. The book is as
good as it is unusual.
X \
THE KEYS OF MY PRISON.
By Frances Shelley Wees.
Doubleday and Co.; $2.75D
Tie frao,,a,of ,ica hoe pnyar