REGENT FICTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24409, 21 September 1940, Page 4

REGENT FICTION

Death of a Gangster W, R. Burnett was probably the first •ommentator upon the gangster who developed the “ human angle ” in studying an underworld type for whom respectable citizens have no fellow feeling. He remains one of the best. His Roy Earle is a killer, who \yill not hesitate to rattle a sub-machine gun’s lethal charge at those who oppose his schemes, yet he gains the reader’s sympathy and retains.it 3S; he is hounded to death in the' .mountains which. give this book its title High Sierra. Earle, one of Dillinger’s associates, was serving a life sentence when- an old-time “boss” bought him a pardon and entrusted him with a very ambitious hold-up task in California. This is the story of his preparations for the big job, of its accomplishment, and of what happened thereafter. But it is also a study of a man with the mark of the prison still upon his mind, who emerges into a world full of melancholy and takes a path that he knows can lead him nowhere .buf, into, oblivion;-.‘.;Mr Burnett conveys :yery subtly the change? that Earle - lias . undergone in eonsrjement—not a change of moral outlook; but of spirit." The adoption of tho-stray-dog, Pard, which:helps in the ehdito-bring about his downfall.’the befriending::of-: -the- lame girl, Velma, are incidents which could :• well have made this book cloyingly sentimental, but the author handles them with great discernment. Among gangster studies this, novel must rank high, even although'if it is considered for filming the Hays Organisation might rule it out as being subversive of right-think-ing. And it is none the lesif exciting because Mr Burnett asks us to give more thought to his hero than is usual in stories of this genre. •

Night-lifer’s Adventures The unusual degree of respect which we are asked ,to accord Mr Burnett’s gangster might also be extended to Peter Cheyney’s new creation Nicky Bellamy. But the reader of Another Little Drink is unlikely to respond as readily as do Fenella, Vanessa, Iris and the other light and lovely ladies of the London night club and "bottle party" to the charm of a young man whose main preoccupation while his country is at war appears to be with drinking too much and too date. Yet it must be recognised in his defence that from the commencement of this story Bellamy is .in great danger of arrest- for 'a : murder which we know he didlhotf commit/ :Ais the: pages turn, we begin ‘ to . realise that is all we do dcnbw'of huh/v-He has his own way of going/aboiit; the' business of establishing his ihnocence..ahd incriminating those' -innocent-seeming • persons who

aife at the bottom of the whole, plot, of which murder is a mere sideplay, to /'destroy .the. British propaganda machine;This is a very confusing «tpry,/becaus'e ;Mr; Cheyney, intends it' to be, and those who jump to conclusions .wilt.probably find themselves no V hearer / the; /.explanation of the, mysterious',goings on than those who follow Bellamy carefully oh his round of/the/West ’End estaminhts. >To follb,w h'im is, indeed, quite' ah amusing adventure; for Mr Chey.ncy both knows hig-,London night, life and; can present it;/-with - sardonic affection to the, reader. . _ , Ah . Ahielican Character

Sam is a first novel or not It /is hard ‘to say. The fact- that it was the American prize-winner in the “All.Nations’ Prize Novel Competition of 1939 seems to indicate .that it is/, hilt. if,/‘certainly bears ho mark op immaturity. The book is primarily the.- study of one man’s character, and it/'is/a ■ brilliant and convincing one. Sam Larson is a true American of the boom period of the beginning of this century/ In his bigness and in his weakness he is wholly human—at once an individual and a .type, even as Sinclair Lewis’s Babbit, arid an essentially American type. The story is vividly written, simple in style and robust in incident rather than rich in description, effectively creating the atmosphere of the time. In spite of his many unlikeable traits, Sam wins the'sympathy, even the admiration, of the reader, and. partly because of the sound contrast provided by his wife, he stands forth as a genuine creation

* Introducing Mr Robinson.” Rupert Grayson’s story, to which he gives this title, is a readable and interesting detective yarn. Steven Trevenna is knocked overboard by the boom of his vacht and drowned While unconscious. Then Steven Treyenna. his son. commits suicide by hanging .in circumstances which are decidedly peculiar. Hugh. Steven’s younger brother, is of opinion that the peculiarity mentioned demands investigation, and employs the R. 1 R.’Greene agency to make it. Greene iS iust a buirmtious. ass but he has sense enough to employ Jack Robinson to assist him Jack, an easy-going nondescript with a brain oi unusual keenness, discovers the identity of the murderer but fails to save Hugh. Yet he does save li' tie Robert, an achievement to his enduring praise. Our copy of the book is from Whitcombe and Tombs.

High Sierra. By W. R. Burnett (Heinemann). Another Little Drink. By Peter Cheyney (Collins). Sam. By John Selby (Nicholson and Watson). Introducing Mr Robinson. By Rupert Grayson (Eldon Press). Mam’zelle Guillotine. By the Baroness Orczy (Hodder and Stoughton). The Burnt Bones Mystery. By Max Dalman (Ward, .Lock). Bushranger of the Skies. By Arthur W. Upfield (Angus and Robertson) Each 8s 9d.

The Pimpernel Again The Scarlet Pimpernel, who has nonchalantly and heroically worked for the Baroness Orczy these manv years, to the pleasure of her readers writes up another epic adventure in Mam’zelle Guillotine, when again he ventures into revolutionary France to save life. On this occasion he cheats of her victims the dreadful Gabrielle Damiens, the Republic’s first woman executioner who. after 16 years in the Bastille emerged to take a sadistic delight in assisting the fall of the heads of her enemies, real or imagined. When the tale ends this unlovely mam’zelle has been thoroughly foiled and discredited, and the Pimpernel has brought to safety, after harrowing experiences, the Marquise de Saint-Lucque and her frightened little daughters.

Missing Man Mystery In The Burnt Bones Mystery, Max Dalman tells the story of a very ingenious plot to simulate the death of Richard Greenlaw a person of somewhat detestable habits. Patrick Ambleside is called in to help in the deception, and finds himself in the position of a suspect. A certain Captain Ware and his associates also merit investigation. The story is to some degree spoilt by the weakness of Chief Constable Stainsby and the rash decisions of Superintendent Rayton. Detective Whitney “is a good type of police officer, whose character is imperfectly developed by the author. The plot, however, is soundly evolved, from the problem of Olivia Howard’s place in the mystery to its eventual elucidation amid romantic accompaniments

•‘Bony” Again ■ Readers of former stories by Arthur W. Upheld will be glad to meet once again Napoleon Bonaparte, the Australian detective inspector, in Bushranger of the Skies. “ Bony ” sees a plane swoop down and bomb a motor car in which are a detective and an aboriginal. There are certain curious points about this crime, and the halfcaste detective is made more determined to find out the whole truth and bring the criminal to justice because “the McPherson” . who obviously knows much is unwilling to tell him anything. So by degrees he uncovers a sorry instance of the folly of one generation being carried over into grief and pain in the third. “ Bony s efforts result in the elimination of what might well have become a political menace and earn the approbation of all who know ■ the circumstances. i■ ■ - V. V.' I*