The Grey Cat. By B. Harris-Burland. (Chapman and Hall. 6s.)—It
is impossible in recommending or condemning a detective story to feel any certainty of general approval ; for no two patrons of this class of literature like their dish with the same flavour. Some enjoy a prolonged suspense, the thrill of discovery reserved for the last page; some prefer to watch throughout the workings of Nemesis: some like to be bewildered, others to feel themselves "in the know " : these demand a love interest, for these, men only must occupy the stage. Those, and we confess that they have our sympathy, who need a little romance mingled with the severer technicalities of crime and detection, will find all that they most enjoy in Mr. Harris- Burland's new book, which moves with the desperate activity of transpontine drama among storms on sea and land, foul play and prisons, unkind husbands and splendid heroes : so impetuous is its course from the murder in the lane toile not-to-be-divulged solution that it is difficult even for a reviewer to criticize the book .with calm aloofness. It is an excellent story of its kind, which kind, it is true, demands neither especial skill in the drawing of character nor the subtleties of a good prose style; and it may boast some touch of originality in the way in which the whole plot is made to depend on four women, all of them passive, if not unwilling, sharers in its complications, yet all of immense importance to the working out of destiny.
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