10 JANUARY 1903, Page 22

The Mystery of the Royal Mail. By B. L. Farjeon.

(Hutchin- son and Co. 6s.)—It takes the author three whole "books" to get to the Royal Mail at all, and the reader who goes to Mr. Farjeon's volume for the sake of being thrilled by shocking mysteries will be inclined to grumble at having such " an in- tolerable deal of sack " in the way of explanation to " but a ha'porth of bread" in regard to mystery. Seen thus in the first three books without the glamour of excitement which Mr. Farjeon generally spreads over his characters, the wicked dramatis personae are really too monstrous to be credible, and the novel drags intolerably. We cannot all write with the pen of M. Fortune du Boisgobey, but Mr. Farjeon has often been a good deal nearer this great master than he is in the present book.