26 JULY 1930, Page 26

THE HARDWAY DIAMONDS MYSTERY. By Miles Burton. (Collins. 75. 6d.)—This

is a good specimen of the master criminal story, whose rationalized criminal corporation defeats the police for years, is the terror of the underworld, and surrenders to the bright young man about town who tries his prentice hand on it in the intervals of hunting big game and proposing to the heroine. It does its best, of course, to give him a run for his money—throws him out of a train and tries to smother him in a deserted lead mine—but it is not a very long run, and, in spite of the fact that he falls into every trap, he falls out again and marries the heroine in the end. There is a certain competence about it, but it is a pity that the artist has given the whole thing away on the jacket.