“It would be foolish to suggest that ‘The unlatched door’ is as thrilling a mystery story as ‘The thirteenth chair,’ because it most certainly is not. It is a good mystery story, but Mrs Thayer is rather too much interested in the love story which she introduces.”
+ − Boston Transcript p6 S 1 ’20 240w Cleveland p72 Jl ’20 30w
“‘The unlatched door’ is likely to puzzle even the most sophisticated of fiction readers.”
+ N Y Times 25:321 Je 20 ’20 400w Springf’d Republican p11a Ag 1 ’20 140w
THAYER, WILLIAM ROSCOE. Art of biography. *$1.50 Scribner 920
20–15938
“‘The art of biography’ is a subject on which Mr W. R. Thayer may justly claim to be heard, since he has proven his mastery of the art by his biographies of Cavour, John Hay, and Theodore Roosevelt. In this little volume, which comprises three lectures which he gave at the University of Virginia, Mr Thayer does not attempt to formulate rules to guide aspiring biographers to success. But he does trace the development of the art of biographical writing from that perfect ancient example—the story of Joseph and his brothers—down to Morley’s three-volume ‘Gladstone.’ Mr Thayer thinks that ‘the constant direction in the evolution of biography has been from the outward to the inward.’ Three indispensable qualifications, he thinks, the biographer must have. He must have real sympathy with his subject. In the second place, the biographer must tell the story as nearly as possible as the actors underwent it. Finally, the biographer must work as the portrait painter works with his brush, always aiming to discover and to reveal the salient characteristics which made a real flesh-and-blood personality.”—Review
+ Booklist 17:63 N ’20
“Mr Thayer’s work evidences a wide range of reading and his critical faculty gives especial value to his comment.”