The novel opens in the old house of Starvel on a gloomy September afternoon in a remote part of Yorkshire. By Page 17 the house is burnt down, and by Page 20 the charred remains of its three inmates are discovered.

An atmosphere of gloom and dreariness is maintained throughout this novel. The house fire is found to be the result of arson, the inmates to have been murdered, and a vast amount of money to have been stolen. By Page 46 Detective Inspector French takes over the case, and we follow his investigations thereafter.

Renowned for his narrative and plot construction skills, even by 1927 when this his seventh mystery novel appeared, Crofts uses the resources of melodrama here rather than drawing on his expertise in engineering which he was later to utilize so brilliantly. We are given, however one glimpse of a 1920s railway train. "The huge engine with its high-pitched boiler and stumpy funnel rolled slowly past, followed by coach after coach, brightly lighted, luxurious, gliding smoothly by." More often encountered are dastardly murders, deadly rivalries, exhumations, and villains in disguise. Typical 1920s detection procedures are employed. Useful identifications are obtained from taxi drivers, and from bank tellers who record the numbers of bank notes of large denominations. Slowly but surely French has his man cornered and is ready to call "Check Mate" when something totally unexpected happens.

Readers who enjoy sampling mysteries from the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction" should not overlook this one. As usual Crofts' plain but fluent story telling makes for easy reading. Each sentence dovetails perfectly into its neighbors, as is the way in good storytelling.

This book by French author Jean Raspail follows his tradition of writing about small and disappearing civilizations. There's something magical about this people of extreme south Argentina (Cap Horn), who after milleniums of struggle against a difficult nature, succumb to western invasion. When you read this beautiful story, you end up wondering how many treasures and how many great civilizations died.

The two main characters are: an educated woman doing PR work which she hates, but which affords her a lot of independence, with two great kids, an accomodating "ex", many good friends; a young woman who has had an unspeakable childhood, which has deeply scarred her, but has left her with an innate cheerfulness and interest in and ability to relate to people. Unfortunately, it is the former who is the narrator, and she is depressed and depressing. Prose is good, often simple, but with occasional flashes of fine imagery.

This is one of the most gentle narratives I've yet read, with Desplechin's ability to handle the complexities of her subject matter with a deft touch leaving the distinct feeling that the same material, in other writer's hands, could become more melodramtic and infinitely less effective. The novel focuses on two Parisian women, one a rehabilitating drug addict and the other a seperated successful freelance writer and mother-of-two, and the ups and downs of their relationship. What I really liked about the novel was the downplayment of the narration, which contains within it a very left-of-centre sense of humour, very cynical in its way, but ultimately very warming. Overall I found the book swift to read, and a novel that I would defy you not to enjoy.

before this study. This study is a collection of transcribed lectures by an award winning poet. Great insight but keep in might they are lectures to students who are concurrently reading the text and thus are familiar with the exacting details of the text. The author quotes from a prize study, which I would highly recommend next to Beckett's thesis, by Howard Moss THE MACIG LATERN OF MARCEL PROUST.