MYSTERY OF THE OPEN WINDOW. By Anthony Gilbert. (Gollancz. 7s.
6d.)—Though ingeniously con- structed, and although the identity of the murderer is difficult to guess until actually revealed, this exciting story yet leaves lu certain disappointment behind it. It lacks one of the essential characteristics of the good detective story : it is
impossible for the reader to be cleverer than the detective and that not because the detective 'is so' overwhelmingly clever, but because the story itself is not convincing, and there is not sufficient motive for the murder. It is, therefore, impossible to believe in it at all, however ingeniously it may have been executed. Apart from this fault, the story is competently written, and the false trails well laid. It is a pity that Mr. Gilbert could not have tied up his threads more carefully, for although this is not fashionable in other types of fiction, in a detective story it is of the essence of its success,
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