Recent Books

SHIPS IN THE SKY--Gunnar Gunnars-son--Bobbs Merrill ($2.50). Although Iceland is known to Europeans for the lively ferment of its modern literary movement, few modern Icelandic novelists have been translated into English. In Europe, 49-year-old Gunnar Gunnarsson, author of 30-odd books and plays, ranks with Scandinavian writers of the calibre of Selma Lagerloef. Ships in the Sky is considered his major work. A long, simply written, autobiographical novel, it tells the story of a redheaded, imaginative peasant boy named Uggi Greipsson. Its distinguishing qualities are an unforced humor combined with uninhibited sentiment, clear characterizations of an Icelandic peasant family of 40 years ago.

Non-Fiction

A SON OF SCOTLAND--R. H. Bruce Lock-hart--Putnam ($3). In this nostalgic, slow-paced account of his athletic boyhood, Author Lockhart (British Agent) gives first place to relatives and Rugger, with interspersed laments on the decline of bagpipes, kilts, Scotch whiskey, dialect and nationalism, winds up with a stirring defense of schoolmasters. Concluded with this volume, Author Lockhart's autobiographical series adds little to modern letters, but makes an interesting example of Scotch frugality in living one's life twice over.

Mysteries of the Month

A BULLET IN THE BALLET--Caryl Brahms & S. J. Simon--Crime Club ($2). Two murders set to music on a London stage, during a performance of Petronshka, with all members of the company under suspicion, Scotland Yard blundering among light-footed, light-headed Russian dancers. Excellent.

THE JUDAS WINDOW--Carter Dickson --Morrow ($2). The murder of an elderly gentleman, found stabbed with an arrow in an apparently sealed room, with Sir Henry Merrivale defending a suspect caught with the corpse and a good deal of bright dialogue compensating for weaknesses in the plot. Good.

THE SIMPLE WAY OF POISON--Leslie Ford--Farrar & Rinehart ($2). Two deaths in suburban Washington, D. C., with the first victim found poisoned in his study, his wife, daughter and their] admirers suspected of the crime and an assorted group of sleuths unraveling a plausible plot. First-rate.

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