Good Books

The following estimates of books much in the public eye were made after careful consideration of the trend of critical opinion.

THE GREAT GRANDMOTHER--G. A. Birmingham--Bobbs Merrill ($2.00). It isn't as good as Spanish Gold or Lalage's Trovers. Nor does the inimitable J. J. Meldon appear in it-- though one of the principal characters, an Irish solicitor named Royce, bears a pleasant family resemblance to him in speech and ways. But, nevertheless, this slight and smiling tale of the adventures of Basil Price, private secretary to Lord Edmund Troyte, will serve the average reader as an acceptably mild antidote for mental fatigue. The hero first tries to get the fishing rights of an Irish salmon-stream for his chief; then foils a deep, dark plot of some rascally picture-dealers to buy an unknown Gainsborough-- subject: Great Grandmother of the title--for a song from a ruined Irish squire. Sir Ames Coppinger, so the squire is called, has a barefoot daughter who provides what love entanglements are necessary. But nobody says " begorra! "

THE RETURN OF FRANK CLAMART -- Henry C. Rowland -- Harper ($1.90). 'Frank Clamart's visiting card should read, "Virtuous Assas-sinations--Singly or by the Dozens --No Reduction Made for Quantity. " A master-criminal, reformed and now crusading against an international dope ring and murder syndicate, he extinguishes evildoers with nonchalance and celerity. His friend, Shane Emmet, a cartoonist with a camera-eye, assists his adventurous labor with blackjack, revolver and sketchbook, and strings along two high-speed love affairs the interim. When the plot is finally unsnarled, scoundrelly corpses fairly heap the floor, and Emmet, strangely enough, receives the white hand of the more bewitching of his two sweeties.

TIME Is WHISPERING--Elizabeth Robins -Harper ($2.00). Those who like the leisurely novel, especially when it deals with English country houses, five o'clock tea on the terrace, water-gardens and misogynistic squires, etcetera, should enjoy Time Is Whispering. Three hundred and seventy-nine pages devoted almost exclusively to the rise and dedevelopment of a middle-aged love affair, sans fireworks or asterisks, between a retired Indian administrator and a gentle and genteel widow, may seem to those who prefer excitement in their reading a little too placid. A safe book to give an old-fashioned aunt.