SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 175, 19 April 1919, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION

Two Tasmanian Tales. Included ill Messrs. ITodder and Stoughlon's latest batch of goud iiction— ft novel bearing the St. Paul's tfouse imprint is always a safe pureluise--t)re two very readable stories of up-country life in Tasmania. In "liHg-Hatl" Mr. .lolin Butler Cooper, whose earlier and excellent novel, "Coo-00-ee," will lie remembered by many of my readers, gives us a iullbiooded, vigorously (old yarn of the old convict days, depicting the doings ol as rascally a' set of criminal wastrels as those who figured io what IStevenson culled that "slrong but rather grimy sfory," "The Kbb Tide." Captain bren-. villc, of the whaling brig, the .Seahorse, and his subtle 'and canny Scots first mnte, Mr. Scantling, Isaac Patch, the villainous Teutonic .lew rum dealer and fence. Sergeant Dogston, who represents the law, and Pedro, the "Dngo" buccaneer, are enough to make the success ol any story, to, say nothing of , tlie_ incidental love interest which relieves the rum swilling, pistol firing, ami general luridity of the Mr. Cooper s chapter headings alone are tremendously tempting to thoso \Vho like their fiction full-flavoured. As for example: "The llox of Loot is Stolen—Granny Starts an incipient Mutiny— I'edro the Portugec Stabs the Captain"! AVith such a bill of faro spread before the render, one'knows what, to expect, and to tell the truth the yarn lives well up to its headlines. There is less drama—shall I say melodrama?—in Mr. Bernard C.ronin's "Tho' Coastlamlers," the second of theso .i'aslunnian stories. It is rich enough in incident, but the eharacter-drawing is -mora detailed and tlie action less kinemato-

graphic than that of Mr. Cooper's yarn. Tho story is told by 11 hard-headed, .goodnatured'stockman, "Hod" Dawson, vha serves his irascible master, old "Stump ' IVrgusoii.. .with a fidelity which never, varies. To the station at Tenia!) Heads comes a beautiful young girl, Margaret Treherne, and forthwith Mr. Cronin secures our interest in a Very chiirniiiift. heroine, who weds with the villain of tl'.o piece in order lo snvo, as she believes, her sweetheart, Tom Crawford, falsely n accused of forgerv, but who is saved from, a life of misery by the splendid sdfseerifien, of which her secret admirer, "Big Joiin" Paseoe, a rough-mannered, genial giant, given ~to periodic "bursts,"' but-at. heart a true gentleman, is the hero, "Dig John" is chivalry personified, albeit lie wears the humble moleskins instead of resplendent armour. There is much, 'picturesque local colour in the story, 'ensnlianal gold discoveries, und the hunti;ig down of cattle thieves, and so forth, end there is a nioro careful and successfulanalyst of ohm-actor than is usual in this class of fiction. "Iritrinue." ■ "Intrigue," by Clivq Desmond (Hod-, der and Sloughton), is a. well-written, sensational' story, the chiijf figures in which are a Polish Countess, unjustly suspected of-being n German soy, but in reality a warm friend of the Allies, tin English officer, engaged in secret servico. work, .rind a highly-placed British official; a 1v.C.1i., M.8.0.,.u .gentleman in c'loso connection with tho AVar Office and Admiralty, but, alus! a traitor to' his country. He is of German parentago on his mother's side, and has married a German lady, but never!belies is implicitly trustell by his Government. In the thwarting of the traitor's schemes the Countess ami the Secret Service officer convj for a time into bitter opposition, each Inisiinderstanding and mistrusting the other, the position being complicated bv tho •fact that the officer is an intimate liiend of the traitor, and that he falls in love with tho womnn who for a time lie has believed to-be a German spy. M l '- csinoiid cleverly disentangles the v:ob of mystery in which the various characters are enmeshed, anil tho 6tory ends; of course, with the detection and discomfiture, of the traitor and with the'incidental love story brought to the traditionally happy conclusion.

"A Business Girl." Tho heroine of Sir. Mark Allert.in's brightly-written story, "A Business Girl" (II odder and Stougliton), is a pretty young lady typist, who, employed by a firm of engineers, suspects her fiance, .a "quantities ourveyor." of betraying to a rival firm tho details of an-important lender which she had carelessly disclosed to him. The girl is pursued with unwelcome attentions by ,onc of her employers, who, when she repels -his advances, brings, about,her dismissal. She starts a small typewriting office, and is soilu in very soro straits. Fortunately her old sweetheart, wlio blossoms forth—with that astonishing rapidity only met. with in fiction — into a very prosperous business man, come# secretly to her aid, and eventually the truth is discovered that, so far from his having done the menu and dishonourable action of which the young lady had suspected him, it is her. persecutor, a secret traitor to his own 'partner,. -who had been -the culprit. Kxplanations, felicitations, and marriage, bells in due course. A very readable story of business life in London.