SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 84, 3 January 1920, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION

"Dope." Sax Eolimcr, ttlio invcnled that mystorious Chinaman and snner-criminal, Dr. Fu Manciiu, an even more puzzling personality than the lato Guy Loothhy's once iiunoiis Dr. Nikola, tells i.s, in Iho preface to his latest novel, "Done" 'Cassell and Co., per Whitccimbe and Tombs) that hi? story was lint "inspired by, nor is it distinct! y concerned with, any cause celebre, recent or remote." All (he same the appearance of such a story so soon after the row iv-H-icws Billi" '"'irlrton cnce h'vpsls it with a special interest. "Dope" is a story of a beautiful woman's .craze fnv morphine, cocaine, and opium, for the heroine imlulires in all three, and of the curniin.T devices by which a trio ef clever rascnls. Sir I.ucien Pyne, oxdiplomat. man c£ fashion, and consuni-, mule scoundrel, and on elderly Chinaman, Sin Sin Wa, and his Cuban halfbred wife, make a "comer" in driißS. Sir Lucieli is murdered by the Cuban woman in a fit of jealousy, and the woman of whom she had been jealous, an ex-netre«. the beautiful liita, Hie wife of a risinjr politician, Monte Jnvin. is kidnapned to a den in China town, -where she is !;ept a c!o°.e prisoner. A Scotland Yard detective, the truculent b'ltibrainy Kerry, it'rfe on the track of tlio Chinese criminal and his enually infamous wifn, and although for a lime he is completely outwitted by the pair, lie finally secures the release of Vi's. Tr-v,-iii. 'As a really first-class sensation, the Iro'iic end of tlie Cuban woman and the escape of the chief criminal, Sin Sin Wa, -.v;viUl siireh- make tlm forhi'no of: the first kinema, playwright who utilised it for screen drama purnoses. "Dope'' will vastlv delight these win like Iheit firtiou 'to be full-llavourod. It is a veT.v ingenious and vigorously-told story. "Tho Whispering Dead." \tr. Alfred Ganaohillv. the author of "Tho Whispeviiitr Dead" (Metlmen and Co.), takes ns to far-away Chile, and gives us a detective fitovy which, so Major Haldane Macfall infornw n? in his preface to his friend's book, is founded lipon a mysterious crime which was committ-:d some years afro in Santiago, and created an immense rensation all through Spanish South America. A murder takes place on the premises of the German Embassy at Santiago, and the body of the victir/i, which is interred with great solemnity, is assumed to be that of the Chancellor of tlio ftnibassy. Tho destruction of the building by fire immediately after the murder renders identification difficult, but tho body is duly sworn to by tho German Ambassador and his secretary as being that of Ile'r I Beckert, the Embassy's Chancellor. At tlie same time, however, the Embassy's Chilian porter, Tanoa, disappears, and the mystery of ihis whereabouts is investigated by a clever Chilian detective, Ko.ias. This worthy discovers that in reality the murdered man was tho Embassy porter, not the Ifr.ii official, who not only did to death the unfortunate Chilian, but. decampcd with a large sum in gold and securities. Beckert is chased across the Andes l:y the redoubtable Bojas, and is brought back to Santiago and tho gallows. The ingenuity and determination of the detective, who I'"", io c.nnbnt the perjury of .tho hiffhly-placed German,l who are willing that Beekevt should escape rather th.im that any scandal should attach to a Hun official, are elevcrly cot forth, and the novel, quite apart from it's political interest, will afford excellent entertainment for those who like this class of fiction. Wends' Great Popnermint Cure, For Coughs and Colds, never fails.—Advt, I