Cirrus@Austlit

Our new, serial, "Secret House," the first instalment of which will appear in our issue of Friday next, is from the pen of Hilda Bridges, an author whose tales are already well known to readers of the "Herald." "Secret House" is an exciting story whose scenes are set in Sydney, although the venue really matters little, since the exciting incidents which compose the plot might equally well have happened anywhere else—all localities being open to the constructor of mysterious houses and to the hider of jewels with dark histories. And of these two ingredients is the plot of "Secret House" mainly composed. The story is almost breathless in its rush of sensational happenings—in company with its chief characters, we meet with "faceless" visitants, and fall through trapdoors, escape most unpleasant extinction by the skin of our teeth, and are introduced to a motley collection of human beings with a speed that not only piles excitement on excitement's head, but which rightly inspires the most lively admiration for the author's ingenuity and imaginative powers. In the end, of course, the jewels are discovered, the evil genius who causes all the trouble is foiled, and the mysteries of "Secret House" are laid bare, with a thoroughness that leaves nothing to be desired. A slight affair of the heart adds sentimental interest to one of the most skilfully contrived stories of its kind that has yet appeared in our columns; and leaders will assuredly agree that the reputation of Hilda Bridges for contriving good plots and working them out effectively is more than sustained in this, her latest tale. 

- The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 March 1933, p10