Fiction: Recent Books: Mar. 25, 1935

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THE SON OF RICHARD GARDEN—Neil Bell—Little, Brown ($2.50). Lengthy, solid novel about a father and his idolized son, by the author of Bredon and Sons.

CHICHI—Rachel Grant—Crowell ($2). Amusing, lightly satirical story of the Manhattan author-publisher racket.

THE TIME IS RIPE—Walter Greenwood —Doubleday, Doran ($2.50). The social climb of a small English shopkeeper, set against the Hogarthian background of unemployed slumdwellers; a dreary theme handled in masterly fashion.

THE HILL OF LIES—Heinrich Mann— Dutton ($2.50). The meteoric rise of a German peasant girl. The author's chief claim to fame is that he is Thomas Mann's brother.

BRAVE MR. BUCKINGHAM — Dorothy Kunhardt — Harcourt, Brace ($1). A toy Indian made of Nugg could always say, in spite of calamities, "THAT DIDN'T HURT." Nonsense with a moral, for children (and adults) by the author of Junket Is Nice.

Non-Fiction

I CAME OUT ALIVE—André Mikhelson —Little, Brown ($2.50). Adventures (a large minority amorous) of a young White Russian under the Bolsheviks.

CHORUS FOR SURVIVAL—Horace Gregory—Covici, Friede ($2). Series of poems, mostly semi-dramatic monologs, by a prominent literary left-winger.

PROVENCE—Ford Madox Ford—Lippincott ($3). Rambling observations on troubadours, garlic, bullfighters, courts of love, the British Museum, bouillabaisse, actresses losing their petticoats—by a rambler par excellence.

Murders

THE SMILING CORPSE—Anonymous— Farrar & Rinehart ($2). The murder of a critic at a big literary tea gives Chesterton, Van Dine, Rohmer, Hammett and others a chance to show off. First-rate satirical farce even for those not up on the mannerisms of current bestsellers.

DEATH IN 4 LETTERS—Francis Beeding —Harper ($2). A fictionalized "Arms and the Men," with a crack journalist, a lady doctor, a huge red-bearded artist chasing and being chased across the Continent. Bright and fast, with some convincing touches of realism, considerable humor.

BULLDOG DRUMMOND AT BAY—H. C. McNeile— Crime Club ($2). Further fighting, swashbuckling adventures; well up to previous standard.

THE MYSTERY OF THE CLOSED CAR— Kathleen Sproul— Dutton ($2). Private Detective Richard Wilson stops at a house-party in Florida for one purpose, stays on for another, accomplishes a third.