New Books

The following estimates of books much in the public eye were made after careful consideration of the trend of critical opinion:

THE MAN WHO WAS GOOD--Leonard Merrick--Button ($1.90). Leonard Merrick does only a few things and he always does them in the same way. That he usually manages to give them an original tang is high tribute to his unexcelled craftsmanship. In this book most of the old situations reassert themselves a little over-assiduously. There is the second-rate theatrical troupe an'd its provincial lodging houses. There is poverty-stricken Virtue roaming the London streets for chapters in search of shelter and employment. There is sentiment, barrels of it, verging narrowly on the sugary. But there is more than the usual amount of intense drama. The strong silent physician who loves and loses is a new face in the gallery of Merrick. The situation of the nurse who gives her life for the child of the man who had betrayed her is a new venture into melodrama. On the whole, a book for the true believer in its author, but not one to win him new disciples.

THE KING VERSUS WARGRAVE--J. S. Fletcher -- Knopf ($2.00). Marco Graffi, teacher of languages, one November morning was found stabbed to the heart in his London flat. Beautiful Gemma Graffi, living with him as his granddaughter, had vanished. A verdict of willful murder was brought against her by a coroner's jury. Our hero, Adrian Graye, medical student, who happened along in the fog at the psychological moment, nevertheless believed her innocent. So did John Wirlescombe, noted detective. All of which made things interesting when the missing Gemma turned up again seven years later as Lady Wargrave, widow of one baronet, mother of another. The verdict of murder still stood against her, in spite of looks, money, title. Mr. J. S. Fletcher turns out mystery stories at a dizzy rate, all of them ingenious, skillfully constructed, plausible. This one is no exception.