Books: Mysteries of the Month: Jun. 27, 1938

Of last month’s eleven, three stood out as best bets. In order of merit:

LILIES FOR MADAME—Hugh Austin— Crime Club ($2). A snarl of theft and blackmail involves an obscure girl hired to impersonate a New York nightclub singer on a Caribbean cruise. A vigorous tale, with suspense, humor, excellent dialogue.

THEY TALKED OF POISON — March Everymay—Macmillan ($2). At a meeting of a crime seminar in a university near Baltimore a dog dies of strychnine, and the deaths of a parson and his daughter (from different causes) follow. Long-winded but literate.

MURDER MAKES A MERRY WIDOW— Robert George Dean—Crime Club ($2). Two private detectives solve the murder of a Midwest newspaper columnist, who in his spare time dabbles in blackmail. Plot: ingenious. Action: swift. Unless a reader is tired of the tough, hard-drinking detectives, a good buy or borrow.