+ − N Y Times 25:4 Jl 18 ’20 2350w + Review 3:349 O 20 ’20 400w
“Of local color and atmosphere there is a satisfying amount, and the autobiography which is the basis of the book but not its motive is no more obtrusive than the hooks on which one hangs his garments.”
+ Springf’d Republican p10 O 22 ’20 250w
CURTISS, PHILIP EVERETT. Wanted: a fool. *$1.75 (3½c) Harper
20–18762
Robert O’Mara, a young actor, who is out of a job and down on his luck, answers an advertisement which begins: “Wanted: a fool, a man who is mad enough to desire a quiet, clean, comfortable home with chance to save money rather than high wages with dirt, noise, and uncertain employment.” He accepts the position thus offered by a Mr Pickering and becomes caretaker to a lonely but luxurious cabin in the hills of Massachusetts. From his first night there, when, unseen by her, he watches a young girl in evening dress go thru his master’s books, an air of mystery surrounds the place. His confusion is deepened by the fact that the few people he comes in contact with seem to know him, while to his knowledge they are all strangers. The key to the mystery is held by “Mr Pickering,” who has been leading a double life, and things are further cleared up when O’Mara learns that since his retirement to the country he has been picked by a leading theatrical manager for a star part, with his picture prominently displayed in the newspapers. The girl of the midnight visit has played quite a part in Mr Pickering’s life, but comes to be even more important in O’Mara’s.
“One has to admit that Mr Curtiss has spun his tale from very fragile threads and that his denouement proves sometimes a trifle strained. Nevertheless he tangles the threads with a high handed delight.”
+ − Boston Transcript p4 D 29 ’20 110w
“There are so many bypaths in the story that a careless and cursory reader might easily lose himself in a tangle of entrances and exits and ‘aside’ speeches. But the author keeps a firm hand on his work, as is proved by his coming out triumphantly ‘fit’ and lucid in the last chapter, even if his readers may be somewhat dazed and breathless.”