... THE THREE OF CLUBS. By Valentine Williams. (Hodder and Stoughton THE THREE OF CLUBS. By Valentine Williams. (Hodder and Stoughton 7S. DU.) Godfrey Cairsdale had a nice kettle of fish to fry when he was sent by the Chief of the British Diplomatic Service to unearth and, if possible, crush a huge international con spiracy known as The Three of Clubs. The object of this pleasing plot was to ...

... A STRONG MAN ARMED. By Barton Shaw. (Stanley Paul 7s. 6d.) A STRONG MAN ARMED. By Barton Shaw. (Stanley Paul 7s. 6d.) Here is a really engrossing ana well- managed historical novel, staged on a scene that is always romantic Florence of the sixteenth century. The story is woven round the famous condottiere captain, John of the Black Bands, a son of the House of Medici. It is a picturesque, ...

... THE SANDS OF ONO. By Beatrice Grimshaw. (Hurst and Blackett 7s. 6d.) THE SANDS OF ONO. By Beatrice Grimshaw. (Hurst and Blackett 7s. 6d.) Stacy Rowan (looks like a man's name, but is really a girl's) went from Sydney to New Guinea to be married to Charlie Holli- day, a resident magistrate. But Charlie was a bad egg all round lazy, drunken, and suspected of smuggling -not spirits, but birds of ...

... Criticisms in Cameo. i. TIGER CATS, AT THE GARRICK. KEATS and Kipling both sang of the glamour of sex and the tragic folly of man, and the life- stories of such as Baudelaire, Maupassant, and Strind berg reveal the truth that Lilith does exist not only in the pages of literature, but in the world. The bold and valid genius of Balzac lavished all its splendour in the creation of such ...

... 5s 'The Literary Lounger. By Keble Howard Murder and Lawn-Tennis. I should imagine that Mr. Robert Hichens, having written the final words of his new novel, After the Verdict, sat back in his chair, heaved a deep sigh of relief-- all authors do that on finishing a new book-- and said to the vast pile of manuscript in front of him: Well, if that won't do for them, I give it up. At a rough ...

... . By Guy Newall. (Constable 6s.) It is always pleasant to be able to say a good word for a first novel, and Guy Newall's work arouses interest for other reasons than that. As a star of the movies, he is already known to the public but there is nothing of flash film stuff in this charming cobweb, which blends realism and fairy fantasy with allegory. It is the story of a married couple, the ...

... THE PASSIONATE QUEST. By E. Phil lips Oppenheim. (Hodder and Stough- THE PASSIONATE QUEST. By E. Phil lips Oppenheim. (Hodder and Stough ton 7s. 6d.) Mr. Oppenheim has the knack of making his stories go. They may not be very great fiction, but they carry the reader along, and the fortunes of Benjamin Stone, millionaire boot-manufacturer, of Norchester, and his three wards, Matthew, Philip, and ...