THE DOUBLE IMAGE. By I. R. G. Hart. (Bean. 7s.
6d.)—This likeable story is described as a " murder thriller " ; but readers who seek a shudder in it will be dis- appointed. Before the principal characters meet, the murder has happened, -" somewhere on the other side of the world " ; we know who is. responsible for it at once, and are amiably convinced that it is a perfectly justifiable murder. The interest lies in wondering when Anne of Dulstead Park, the charming mother of the detestable Jerry, will realize that her inconsolable and distraught daughter-in-law has taken the extreme measure to-end her son's cruelty, and what she will-say when she does. The murder business itself is very vague. Mr. Joyce, in finally defending Liana, " generalizes " Jerry's conduct to spare his mother's feelings ; the reader, without unholy curiosity, may think that Joyce and Liana might become less shadowy to him if the causes of their deed were more concretely stated. But the novel is best taken as a pleasantly satiric study of life in a London suburb, where the well-to-do inhabitants yearn for culture and express their souls in amateur theatricals. (They also wear long skirts and black woollen stockings, which is an unnecessary strain on one's credulity.) The struggle over Edward's play is highly amusing • and Anne's radiant generalship of her company is so delightful that it seems impossible that anybody murdered anybody, even on the other side of the world. Yet the chord of sorrow at the conclusion leaves a profoundly different impression. The author seems to have a talent for two different kinds of story. Probably she intended to write a " murder thriller " at the beginning ; but, bemused by Anne, like everybody else, remembered her purpose with difficulty. Read The Double Image for the sake of Anne.
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