In "Surprise for the Four" by Mark Cross (Ward Lock, London, 3/6), a mystery story is deftly unravelled in a lively tale which is well told. It a real pleasure to meet the four Adjusters" again and to find that they are as delightful as ever, agreeable personalities as efficient as they are unconventional in their methods of tracking criminals. High "society plays its part in the pursuit of lawbreakers with zest and humour, the characters are alive and companionable, the "Yard" is amiably baited and before the last page is reached a seemingly inexplicable puzzle is tangle Not to be taken too seriously is the latest novel by W. H. Lane Crauford, "All the King's Men' (Ward Lock, London, 3/6), which is ten in his customary humorous plus a satiric attitude toward restorations and lost causes. In this instance it is Slavonia, with its exiled Queen waiting another revolution, and Max Saville of London, who is suddenly called from his rôle of waiter to that of king. A decoration, miniatures and some letters provide his credentials according to time-honoured tradition, and a dancing girl gives an original twist to the plot. This is not the best of this author's novels but it furnishes a pleasant relief from the grim realities of warfare on our borders—n.s.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.