6 JULY 1929, Page 31

SPEEDY DEATH. By Gladys Mitchell. (Victor Gollancz. 7s. 6d.)—Speedy Death

is above the usual run of detective stories. The heroine, or villainess, is a psycho-analyst, and

we think Miss Mitchell must be almost the first champion in fiction of this. much-abused class. The Whole book, in fact, 'turns upon the 'obsessions of a young wbman whose natural desires have - been suppressed,- and on their effect on her -actions. Though, therefore, the plot is no more like-life than that of any other detective story, it has been found possible to provide a new type of clue for the reader, though the police are as obstinate as ever, and to dispense again with that mechani- zation of criminal life which has become so prevalent in the detective novel to-day.