FICTION
THREE DETECTIVE STORIES
The House Without a Key. is. 6d.) The Stolen Budget. By J. S. 7s. 6d.) The Black Abbot. By Edgar 7s. tid.) The Black Abbot. By Edgar 7s. tid.)
No mysteries could differ more from each other than these three detective stories. In The House Without a Key the
peaceful beach-life of Honolulu is suddenly shattered by the murder of Dan Winterslip, a man of considerable fortune and doubtful reputation. In the search for the murderer, Dan Winterslip's past comes to light and provides excellent material for numerous false clues. There are, in fact, too many false clues, for, although the more complex the mystery the more entertaining and irresistible the challenge to solve
it, it is never pleasant to be beaten, and in this story hardly any reader is likely to find out, before he is told, who the murderer was. Who committed the murder in The Stolen Budget is a side issue ; the mystery to be unravelled is where
the Chancellor of the Exchequer was held captive. He had been kidnapped together with his unpublished notes for the Budget. The Prime Minister, the police, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer's maiden sister and two enterprising young journalists combine in the search. His whereabouts are eventually discovered by a tune played by church bells. The Stolen Budget is as well constructed and as excellent as
are all Mr. Fletcher's detective stories. It proves that a
" love interest " is by no means essential in this type of story, for no woman plays a part of any importance and her absence is not felt. On the other hand Mr. Edgar Wallace does not content himself in The Black Abbot with expounding and solving a complex plot, but introduces many difficult situations brought about by the rough course of love. More care is given to characterization than in the two other stories. It is interesting that there is no villain in The Black Abbot, although countless evil deeds are committed by many different people ; yet each of these people has some definitely attractive
quality and, therefore, gets his fair share of sympathy kora the reader. Such sinister events occur at Fossa.way Manor that it is difficult to resist describing them. Mr. Wallace's
output increases in speed, but this does not spoil the standard of his work. The Black Abbot is as good as any of his books and perhaps better.
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