Readers of "The Emerald of Catherine the Great" will not have to be told that Mr. Belloc's mystery stories are written with suavity and originality and an eye for piquant situations. This new mystery tale is the story of "Rackham Catchings," a manor house in Sussex belonging to an amiable but improvident squire, which in payment of a debt has come into the possession of his brother. How the squire's son, John, is forced to earn his living as a ventriloquist in the music halls, how ventriloquism plus a headless ghost sends the household into a frenzy of excitement and fear, and how John succeeds in recovering his home and winning the girl he loves make a constantly unexpected and unusual story.