WHEN the three strolling players in a little board theater outside of London offer their souls for a whisky-and-soda and cigarets, the flap of the tent-door opens, and in a burst of rain and of thunder and lightning, Mr. "Mephistopheles" Thompson appears, "a man with a noticeable curve at the corners of his lips, which might have meant humor or malevolence," and the first of seven "conundrums" is popped.
The still indefatigible E. Phillips Oppenheim has added another fast-moving, smoothly motivated plot-novel to his galaxy with "The Seven Conundrums." One by one, these unsolved questions deepen the mystery and intensify the adventure of the story. For a year Rose, Leonard and Maurice dance to their piper's tune and dash obediently into affairs that include every one from a duke to a labor agitator of international reputation, and pry into every sort of place, from a mining village in northern England to the half-ruined chateau of an ex-German baron. And a pretty love story brings their devastating career to a close. It is all very exciting, with no superabundance of detail, and mild enough not to startle the timid; a good evening's entertainment. --Literary Digest International Book Review, Volume 1