Salt Lake Telegram | 1923-11-18 | Page 4 | Mystery Tale Holds Interest by Naturalness

Tale Mystery rf Holds Interest Interest by Naturalness ss- ss I. I The Thing at Their Heels I by Harrington Hext Is Different By JAMES G. G WOOLLEY In n The Thing Thing- at Their 1 Heels eels Harrington Hext has achieved what we had commenced to believe to be bean bean bean an Impossibility a really entertainInG entertain entertain- ing mystery detective tale not to be measured by anything we have read In recent years ears in this stor story the theauthor theauthor theauthor author has built up a truly Ingenuous ingenuous ous plat somewhat bizarre but en entirely entirely en- en plausible and not half so fantastic fantastic fan tan as any anyone one of ot a dozen actual murd murders rs the details of which have havo been exploited by the press Furthermore Furthermore Furthermore Fur Fur- he assigns to his villain i a 1 unique but b by no means ridiculous ridiculous lous ous motive for tor the series of or murders mur mur- ders dens which 8 startle the th English nation nation na na- na- na tion and baffle baffle- the best of ot Scotland Yards Yard's talent through the pages pases of this splendid bit o of narrative Perhaps the most interesting feature fea tea ture ure ure of ot Hext's technique is that ho he builds such an unusual ator story that even his could not solve It and it is O only oAly ly revealed In Ina Ina ina a post posthumous confession of ot the murderer in the last chapter when villain maln motive and verification of ot othe the he seeming impossible situations are laid simply sImp before the startled reader Broadly speaking every very person brought into the story appears appears appears ap ap- ap- ap pears to be drawn from life lite Each bit of business is In character and the denouement does not detract from the he congruity of or the thO whole wholeS but rather supports and antI strengthens the readers reader's Impression that perhaps per per- haps hap after atter all the story Is only a a. thinly disguised report of ot some somo actual The motive assigned the he villain Is unusual but the villain i is an un unusual Unusual unusual un- un usual p person and his psychology Is easily From beginning be be ginning to end the mystery thickens thick thick- ens fast tast as one by one the possible villains are eliminated by sudden Budden death Through half halt a dozen murders murders murders mur mur- ders the author carrl carries s hi his readers without nauseating them b by ov overdrawn over over- er- er r drawn horrors Some beautiful descriptive passages a tolerable love lo stor story some unusually human episodes are woven together deftly as a screen for tor the main actions And then just wh n you ou heroine become tolerably certain that tha to escape from his own o plotting the autor must resort to some Borne outlandish bit bitof bitof of ot extravagance the tho answer is dealt 1 alt up neatly nealy In so simple a statement that casting back ov over r the crucial 1 moments of the tale there is no impression impression im Im- im- im of ot The plot centers about p. p titled family the heirs to o whose estates perish In the succeeding murders Why how a and by whom these e men dhO f are killed murdered r r under what at first appears impossible conditions conditions condi condl- furnish the author with th the fabric of his tale Further than n this I It is not fair to enlighten th tin the prospective reader but If It you ou like Ilka mystery stories you are certain to enjoy The Think at Their Heels The The n l Ca Co New ew York