The Englishman of the Rue Cain. By H. F. Wood.
(Chatto and Windus.)—The opening chapters of this story point to a mystery that promises to fascinate every one. The death of the Englishman of the Rue Cain seems one of those eerie things that send a thrill of horror through nerves of steel. The chapter in which Herbert and the great French detective travel to the Rue Cain, is one which we like to remember. The life of the Rue, the indefinable air of haunting crime, the heavy air of the place, are described with much skill and a minuteness that is yet not too photographic. The remainder of the book does not seem to us so powerful. Mr. Wood gives us long and most extraordinary rhapsodies, which we suppose to be the thoughts of various characters revealed to the reader. All this is real, and, indeed, clever ; but to attempt to reproduce the rapidity and kaleidoscopic changes of thought cannot be, and in this case is not, a success. The great Frenchman who begins his investigations by assuming women to be guilty, and then proving the reverse, is interesting ; but his theory is one that requires skilful handling, and one not likely to interest most readers. The Englishman of the Rue Cain is a really clever novel ; its detective elements are good ; but the story, owing to the long and frequent outspoken ramblings which may belong either to Mr. Wood or to his characters, has a certain air of incoherency.
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