The ten to fourteen year old readers who enjoyed "Circus Shoes" and Noel Streatfeild's earlier books are due for a shock with ["The Secret of the Lodge"]—but it will not be one of disappointment, and Miss Streatfeild's audience will undoubtedly be enlarged by a considerable number of boys, since it pushes deeper into the fields of their interests than did any of the others. Indeed, this tale of a mystery which four children unravel in a remote mansion on the coast of Cornwall is every child's dream of triumph over villainous adults made as convincing as a billboard advertisement.

The Chandler brothers and sisters were not pleased to be shipped off to spend the Summer with their Uncle Murdock, known to them only by hearsay as an extremely unpopular member of the family. Nor was Uncle Murdock, secretary to the deposed dictator of Livia, any happier to...