5 JULY 1930, Page 30

THE LADY OF DESPAIR. By Francis D. Grierson. (Collins. 7s.

6d.)—This is a crime story of the good old- fashioned style—the author is even careless enough to refer to the novel appearance of an ordinary bobbed head, which suggests that it is old as well as old-fashioned. Nevertheless it is fairly competently worked out and put together. The Lady herself is accused of murdering the latest of the young men who mysteriously die just as they seem to be acquiring favour in her eyes, and it becomes the business of her guardian and of her eventual husband, an author of detective stories, to find the real murderer in order to prove her innocence. They do this under the eyes of the reader and a little after him, who is thus flattered into liking the author and continuing to read his book.