30 DECEMBER 1916, Page 17

READABLE NOVELS.—The Hampstead Mystery. By Watson and Rees. (John Lane.

6s.)—An exceedingly good detective story begin- ning in the orthodox way with a murder.—The Grey Shepherd. By J. E. Buckrose. (Hodder and Stoughton. 35. 6d.)—An idyll of country life. The shepherd himself is an attractive figure.—In the Fire of the Furnace. By a Sergeant in the French Army. Translated by Mrs. Cecil Curtis. (Smith, Elder, and Co. 6s.)—A very interesting picture of the war from the point of view of a French Reservist.—Mistress of Herself. By E. W. Savi. (Hurst and Blacken. 6s.)—An Anglo- Indian story in which some readers will think the heroine takes an entirely wrong view of her duty in the circumstances described.