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A great deal of cheap sentimentality and melodrama plus excessive blather from cardboard characters. Would have been more readable if one hundred pages of un-needed dialog had been cut.

An interesting if predictable plot is its only saving grace.

[I don't use stars]

A pretty good tale of the far north—concerned with mining rather than the usual furs or timber. In fact, it's so far north the timber is useless.

Strong heroine, sensible hero, satisfying villains. Since it's Canadian, good manners and not much blood.

(I don't use stars)

A pretty good story of the North Country, with a strong female protagonist. Rather than the usual timber or trapping tale, this is about mining, and feels quite realistic.

Canadian, so manners are surprisingly good for rough country types.

(Ignore stars)

Good puzzle-type mystery with an involved plot that keeps not only the reader but the characters guessing. Goes into great detail in regard to both the crime and the detecting. Extraneous detail slows parts of the tale.

Yes, it's baffling, and for some time the professionals are just as baffled as the amateurs. But trespass, illegal entry and an analysis of paperwork eventually solve all the puzzles.

(I don't use stars)

This is something unusual—a hard-boiled detective story from a century back, based on the fairly popular literary premise of the unremitting escapee and the implacable pursuer.

Not badly written, there is neither hero nor heroine, though both protagonists are remarkable characters. The female could have been developed further, even in another volume.

(I don't give stars)

No stars, but it deserves five cans of corn.

One of the funniest things I've read in years, outclasses any Wodehouse I've come across with the exception of The Clicking of Cuthbert, and even that takes second place.

English "gentleman's man" Ruggles is lost by The Honourable George in a game of drawing poker and transported Out West to rehabilitate the dress, manners, and so forth of a rough cowboy.

This was made into a movie starring Charles Laughton in the 30s but the book is far, far superior. Worth six stars if I were to give them.

Not every reader will like this book nor agree with me that Quiller is one of the best writers around, but at his best he can't be beaten.

This is wonderfully droll and ironic, featuring an impossibly bright and mature six-year-old and a bizarre group of religious paupers.

If you have some Latin, brush it up.

(stars mean nothing)

Possibly the worst short story collection I've ever read. As too often happens, the editor—Jessup, finds it necessary to spout off at length about his vast knowledge and the idealized reasons for choosing these particular tales, wasting space which might have held two more stories.

It contains a one or two humorous stories, some droll efforts, a couple of decent anecdotes, one of the worst things Poe ever wrote, a weak example of Bret Harte, Twain's Jumping Frog, and at least one tale that no rational person would ever call humor.

If I gave stars (which I no longer do) it would rate minus 1.

A pretty decent story of Washington State, the IWW and the First World War. Melodramatic and a bit wordy with idealized hero and heroine but definitely worth a read.
[I've stopped giving stars]