+ Spec 122:86 Jl 19 ’19 1650w
“His biographies bring under fire virtually the whole of English history between 1700 and 1850, and few of them are not lit with new interest. We can imagine that in questions of aesthetic criticism his personal view will not be unchallenged.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p399 Jl 24 ’19 1950w
FLETCHER, JOSEPH SMITH. Dead men’s money (Eng title, Droonin’ watter). (Borzoi mystery stories) *$2 (2½c) Knopf
20–19048
This story is told by Hugh Moneylaws, a young law student in Berwick-upon-Tweed. While going on an errand which kept him out very late one night, Hugh comes upon a dead man lying in the woods. In the investigation that follows, Hugh conceals one piece of information, a bit of caution he has reason to regret later. He does not mention publicly having seen Sir Gilbert Carstairs, 7th baronet of Hathercleugh House, at the scene of the murder. When the one person with whom he shares this knowledge meets a violent death, he begins to realize the seriousness of it, and when Sir Gilbert makes a dastardly but unsuccessful attempt to put Hugh himself out of the way, he is convinced of Sir Gilbert’s guilt, and his disappearance makes assurance doubly sure. The remainder of the story tells of the efforts to locate him, and the facts that come to the light about him in the search. On several occasions Hugh’s life hangs by a hair, but he eventually comes out of it with only a crippled knee, and nothing more to fear from “Sir Gilbert,” who has met his punishment at the hands of another enemy.
“Take one typewriterful of Stevenson, add several murders for luck and one mystery that isn’t mysterious, mix well with a sensational jacket and an afterthought of a plot and the answer is ‘Dead men’s money.’”
− N Y Evening Post p17 D 4 ’20 160w
“The author’s grasp on the various threads of his story is always firm, and he brings them all together at the end, leaving them tied up in a neat bow, with no loose ends, with a skill that compels deep admiration of his craftsmanship.”