SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 15, 12 October 1918, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION

"President M'Clusky." Our old acquaintance, that redoubtable Scot, adventurer, soldier, prospector, M'Glusky, the hero of a iong series of stories from the facile and vivacious pen of Mr. A. G. Hales, is onco again to the fore in a new book, "President M'Glusky" (Hoclder :v>d Stoughton). It deals with M'Glusky's life just after tho Boer War, and recounts tho very remarkable experiences '=jf tho keen-witted, heavy-handed Scot

on tho pampas of South America, the hero eventually being made ruler of a tribo of, Aztec descent. A beauteous native princess and a. magnificent pedigreo stallion aro amongst the prizes won by the enterprising M'Glusky as the result of his audacity. The story is packed full of sensational happenings, and the homely and humorous philosophy expressed by tho hero for tho benefit of his faithful travelling companion and fellow-adventurer is quito in tho well-known M'Glusky vein and vastly entertaining. Jlr. Hales tells us in a brief preface that his book was "written during the time the Hung wero bombing the peaceful English coast towns." Tho narrative, lie says, "may jump. a bit in spots, as-1 did, for on twenty occasions I had to drop my pen and go out and do my work as a war correspondent. Some of it, indeed, was. written with shells making devils' melody round my cottage." Air. Hales i.eed not apologise lor his story. Old admirers of the ingenious M'Glusky wiil find the new yarn quit» as entertaining as its piedecessors. "There Was a King in Egypt," Miss Norma Lorimer is well known as the author of some excellent- books of travel—"By the Waters of Sicily" was an exceptionally good book —an:! more than once she has cleverly utilised her- travel-gained ■ knowledge to jjivo picturesque local colour to a novel. Thus her fine dramatic story "On Etna " was clearly an outcome of her •book on Sicily. Latterly she has favoured an Egyptian scenario, and in her two novels "By Desert Altars" and "A Wifo Out of Egypt" has shown a deep and intimate acquaintance with modern Egypt- and its people. In iicr latest novel, "There Was a King in Egypt" (Stanley Paul and Co.), Miss Lorimer gives us a very agreeable blon<3 of Egyptian archaeology, Islamic theology, 'and quite latter-day romance. The three main figures' aro _ a young Englishman, Lampton, who is an enthusiastic student of Egyptian archaeology, his- sister : Margaret, a strong-willed but most lovable woman, and their friend and co-worker, Michael Amory, a young Irishman, artist and mystic. The scene is laid on the Upper Nile, where, in. the desert near tho Theban hills, Lampton is engaged in uneartliitig some ancient Egyptian tombs, tho paintings in which aro copied by liis artist friend. The latter falls deeply in love-with Lampion's sister, but' not until he has had an entanglement with a rich and sensual society woman,'Mrs.-'Meredith. Tho latter, the villain of the piece, pursues Michael with a passionate love which, when it fails to meet with tho desired rcs|)onsc, turns to vicious hato and a malignant enmity. A supernatural element is introduced, the spirit of tile Egyptian Messiah, Akhnaton or Amenhotep IY., protecting'the lovers. In the end the treachery and evil-doing generally of the "woman scorned" meet with a punishment which many readers may join with-me in considering almost too cruel, and after tho introduction of the war tho story concludes with tho inevitable wedding bells. Miss Lorimer has put to skilful fictional use tho story of Akhnaton, :.s told in Mr. Weigall's now famous book on tho Egyptian Messiah, and the .introduction of ah old Mohammedan .saint, who -solaces poor' Michael's sadly ■ despondont mind with friendly counsel, is very happily conceived. The archaeologicakletail is not overdone, although, to some readers, the introduction of supernatural elements may appear a little strained. The story must be adjudged one of Miss Lorimer's.most successful and enjoyable efforts.

"Ths Chestermarlia Instinct," The brothers Chestermarke, Gabriel and Joseph, are essentially a bad lot, despito tho fact that thoy are highly respectablo family bankers in a quiet country town. The manager of their bank suddenly disappears, greatly to the astonishment of everybody. His niece, a wealthy and masterful young woman, is highly dissatisfied with the attitude taken up by the two Cliostermarkes w.ho, although the. bank has been robbed of some- valuable securities, and that an immensely valuable diamond necklace, deposited at tho bank with the manager by. a local nobleman,. is missing, refuse to give the detective engaged b.v the young lady any information. A young clerk, dismissed b.v the bankers for having assisted the young lady in her endeavour to solve the mystery, gives valuable assistance to the detective, and a long and thrilling story comes to a most sensational end in the discovery of tho ■ missing manager, who has been kidnapped bv the younger of the two brothers, and of the fact that the latter had also committed a foul and treacherous murder in addition to having robbed both his older brother and the peer. The handsome young clerk and the wealthy young' lady make a match of it, and the curtain falls upon the detective's triumph and the traditional and highly proper vanquishing.of some very ingenious and elaborate villainy. Of all this and much more you can read in Jlr. J. S. Fletcher's latest sensational novel, "The Chestermarke Instinct" (George Allen and linwin). It is an excellent story in its own particular genre.