Good Titles

OUT OF THE BLUE--H. C. McNeile ("Sapper")--Doran ($2.00). Melodrama being his metier, the author of Bull Dog Drummond fares only moderately well on the cramped stage of the short story. His happiest efforts are with humor and suspense, as Uncle James's Golf Match--a rib-splitter--and the titular tale of this collection, wherein a murder is averted by the veriest trifle. In other instances, suspense is fool's gold. The nugget of denouement fails to pan out. In still others-- The Porterhouse Steak, about a starving but proud war hero; The Film That Never Was Shown, about a proud but starving cinema hero--the virgin clay of emotion appears exclusively, great lumps of it. In general, Author McNeile's titles are better than his tales.