The House of Merrilees. By Archibald Marshall. (Alston Rivers. 6s.)—As
"good wine needs no bush," it stands to reason that a very large shrub displayed before the door of an inn is apt to make the intending guest rather chary of testing the quality of the entertainment within. So with the modern novel. In the case of The House of Merrilees the lover of sensational fiction will, however, be wrong if he does not read the book owing to his being discouraged by the highly seasoned advertisements of its mysteries which waylay his attention. To the hardened reader the "mystery" is not, perhaps, very mysterious; but from other points of view than that of pure sensation the book is readable, and the personages of the drama are more alive and their actions more credible than is usual in works of this type. As generally happens with sensational mysteries, the beginning of the book is much the best part, for, except in the hands of genius, the solution of a puzzle is always a much tamer affair than its recital. But the book will while away an unoccu- pied hour very pleasantly.
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