Glance through second novel by Kipling (4)
I believe the answer is:
skim
'glance through' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'second novel by kipling' is the wordplay.
'second' becomes 's' (common abbreviation).
'novel by kipling' becomes 'kim' (novel by Rudyard Kipling).
's'+'kim'='SKIM'
(Other definitions for skim that I've seen before include "Pass swiftly and lightly over the surface" , "Move quickly (over a surface)" , "Move lightly over a surface" , "avoid paying income tax" , "Glide lightly over" .)