RECENT & READABLE

The Fire-Raisers, by Marris Murray. A vivid, moody story about a South African valley and its willy-nilly incendiaries (TIME, April 26).

The Bad Seed, by William March. Malice and murder in the heart of a child; a mother-and-daughter story that swiftly turns into a shocker (TIME, April 12).

A Time to Laugh, by Laurence Thompson. The lighthearted story of poor Gadein, a gawky African adolescent, and his triumph over both his tribe and the British army (TIME, April 5).

Minutes of the Last Meeting, by Gene Fowler. More stories about those three Hollywood musketeers, John Barrymore, W. C. Fields and Author Fowler, disguised as a biography of their colleague and poetic oracle, Sadakichi Hartmann (TIME, April 5).

The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr. New yarns lovingly constructed by a pair of contemporary Sherlock fans from "unsolved cases" mentioned in the original stories (TIME, April 5).

The Challenge of Man's Future, by Harrison Brown. A thoughtful, guardedly hopeful but dead-serious speculation about the effect of the world's increasing population on the life of man (TIME, March 22).

The Lady for Ransom, by Alfred Duggan. The twilight of the Byzantine Empire, caught in a fine historical novel (TIME, Feb. 8).

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