Fifth Column Fancy
N or M? By Agatha Christie. (Crime Club. 7s. 6d.)
Stop on the Green Light! By Maurice Barrington. (Hamish Hamilton. 7s. 6d.) IT is a striking feature of the war that the democratic Powers have permitted their wireless, films, newspapers and literature to pump up the myth of an omnipotent and omnipresent enemy which can only encourage a feeling of hopelessness and paralysis of the will ; the Axis Powers have thus had a considerable part of their propaganda done for them. These gloomy reflections are provoked by the fact that the time-lag between the detective story and events has now been bridged and that the detective story is becoming, with rare exception, the Fifth Column thriller. The corpse no longer presents any puzzle whatever, it knew too Irmo ; the reader has merely to plough on until the harsh-voiced stranger with impeccable credentials is unmasked and his organi- sation pulled in. In Beastmark the Spy, Fifth Column men and enemy personnel visit the vicinity of the naval base at Scapa without the slightest trouble ; in The Admiral's a Spy the author is content to have a Nazi double take the place of the C. in C. of the U.S. Naval Forces ; in Measure for Murder we
have a large number of respectable English persons busy at treason ; and in N or M? by Miss Agatha Christie, we have-
" Treated with the appropriate reagent, that book contains written in Invisible Ink a full list of all prominent personages who are pledged to assist an invasion of this country. Amongst them were two Chief Constables, an Air Vice-Marshal, two Generals, the Head of an Armaments Works, a Cabinet Minister, many Police Superintendents, Commanders of Local Volunteer Defence Organisations (sic), and various Military and Naval lesser fry as well as members of our own Intelligence Force."
Tommy and Tuppence stared.
" Incredible!' said the former."
It is indeed incredible, and it is also puerile. The publishers ask for paper to fulfil their cultural mission, lest the Classics and essential text-books go ow of print. Making such use of what they have, who can blame the responsible authority for a certain indifference?
Stop on the Green Light! handles the Axis secret work on the right lines. The conspirators are petty criminals, queer fish driven by blackmail ; they are neither very efficient nor very influential, and their German organiser weaves plots of Wagnerian grandeur wholly unrelated to the means at his disposal. An Oxford Don becomes involved in an extremely elaborate plot, and he acquires a Federal Guardian Angel who ultimately manages to extract him from it after he has had a number of curious experiences. The story is good and fast, but the main point of the book is its adult and civilised wit. Murder for Hannah covers similar ground, but in California and not the Eastern States which are Mr. Barrington's scene. As in everything else, California is harder, brassier and more luxuriant than the rest of the United States. It is an excellent example of the tough school of Ameri- can thriller and to be enjoyed as such, but to the reader who• likes to work out the problem it will be a dead loss—the author is out to demonstrate that quickness of hand deceives the eye, and his sleeves are full of white mice, coloured paper streamers and aces all the time. When Last I Died is a pleasant relief, an honest detective story from never-never land, where there are no wars. The murders occur in a house run by bogus mediums, and the spiritualist background admits of pleasing complication. Miss Mitchell is fair and straightforward about the solution of one problem, allowing the reader all the necessary information with scrupulous care ; but the second the does her best to pre- serve as her own secret. Once the reader spots the free use of red herrings, however, the second problem becomes an amusing battle between reader and author. The story is agreeably written.
JOHN FAIRFIELD.
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