31 AUGUST 1929, Page 25

THE DAVIDSON CASE. By John Rhode. (Geoffrey Bles. 7s. 6d.)—There

seems to have been a fashion recently for detective stories in which the criminal is also the hero. This is also the case here, and the whole book leads one to expect it, since the author has hardly made any attempt to provide an alternative murderer. Thus there is a certain dullness in an otherwise ingeniously constructed crime, and the reader will be apt to feel, taking into consideration also the production of the book itself, that he has not had value for his money. Even in these days, when the "penny dreadful" costs sixpence, one can do as well as this for half a crown at the most.