The Mys­tery of Edwin Drood is fa­mous not only be­cause it is by the im­mor­tal Charles Dick­ens, but also for the fact that, owing to the au­thor's un­for­tu­nate death, the story was never fin­ished. Who killed Edwin Drood? who was Dick Datch­ery? who was Princess Puffer? are ques­tions which re­main as much a mys­tery now as upon the day of Dick­ens' death. Since that time there have been many clever sug­ges­tions as to what Dick­ens' so­lu­tion might have been, and now, in this pre­sent story, Bruce Graeme sug­gests an­oth­er ver­sion, but — with that touch of orig­i­nal­i­ty which is un­de­ni­ably his — in such a to­tal­ly dif­fer­ent form that we feel sure his con­tri­bu­tion will be re­ceived with de­light.

How does he at­tempt to solve the mys­tery? Not by en­deav­our­ing to see the so­lu­tion through the eyes of Charles Dick­ens, but by imag­in­ing the re­sult after in­ves­ti­ga­tion by mod­ern C.I.D. de­tec­tives. The in­fi­nite pos­si­bil­i­ties of this method are eas­i­ly ap­par­ent, and Bruce Graeme makes the most of them. Once again Su­per­in­ten­dent Stevens (of A Mur­der of Some Im­por­tance and The Im­per­fect Crime fame) is the cen­tral char­ac­ter.

Here is not only a high­ly imag­i­na­tive story which in­tro­duces many fa­mous char­ac­ters, but one which sparkles with wit, hu­mour, satire, and some thrills, too. One does not have to be a lover of Dick­ens or even to have read "The Mys­tery of Edwin Drood" to enjoy this book. It is a novel which will suit the taste of all lovers of a sound en­ter­tain­ing story.