13 OCTOBER 1917, Page 21

READABLE Nover-e.—The Plot•Maker. By. William Hewlett. (Duckworth and Co. fla.)—A

scherzo, in which the hero endeavours to servo as model to an author whose methods of literary work will remind the reader of those of the immortal Bent Pitman in the sister art of painting.—The Black Office. By Agnes and Egerton Castle. (John Murray. 5s. not.)—Anentertaining series of adventures in England and France after the great Peace a hundred years ago. The first story shows the methods of the Censor's Office in Paris in September, 1815, a revelation which should make the Censor's Office of to-day almost popular.—Curtis and Co. By Mrs. E. De M. Rudolf. (Ward, Lock, and Co. 5s. net.)---A pleasant novel which has nothing to do with the war except that the heroine resembles the war-time heroine in that she shoulders lice husband's burdens when he is incapacitated by illness.