[Mr. Albert Campion's] earliest adventures were zany thrillers, cheerfully spun tarradiddles which poised him imperturbable as they ramped, and panted and raced and had a fine time with improbability. But midway of his course Mr. Campion's adventures turned sober and became detective stories instead of thrillers….

"The Tiger in the Smoke" is a kind of amalgam of the two sorts. In plot it is a thriller, hanging as perilously from chances as ever Pearl White hung from cliffs. In tone it is graver, allusive and carefully figured. The consequence is an uncommon and not awfully tasty dish, as serious in its lines as it is silly in its plot. Indeed, it reaches such strenuous devotion in its final chapters that it seems for a time likely to turn into Christian allegory which, as Mr. Campion might be expected to remark, is a little thick in a thriller for...