Rachel Traherne has a complicated life, thanks to the father who left her in charge of the family fortune, with orders to keep it out of unworthy family hands as she sees fit. Now almost middle-aged, her family keeps up a constant barrage of requests for funds, and considers her large country hou...
I always think of Patricia Wentworth as "Christie lite," though I don't mean that as an insult. Wentworth is a good writer and writes good mysteries, but she's definitely second rank. She's not as good as Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Arthur Conan Doyle, or Erle Stanley Gardner. Her characters just...
I am new to the Miss Silver mystery fan club, but I have read several of them in fast succession. Miss Silver mysteries are not great literature- they're not meant to be. They are fun and charming mysteries which can be read in a couple hours. Having read most Agatha Christie books I was thrilled...
Lucas Dale is the brash new owner of King's Bourne, the house where Cathy O'Hara and her cousin Susan grew up. Mousy, nervous Cathy works for Dale as a social secretary, while Susan is waiting for her fiance Bill Garrick to make his mark as an architect so they can marry. Lucas Dale, however, wan...
I've now read 19 of the 32 Miss Silver mysteries. This is the 10th in the series. They are all pleasant cozy reads, with different plots and new personalities for Miss Silver to observe and analyze, but other than giving a synopsis of the plot, it is hard to give a meaningful review of each one. ...
Paulina Payne is deaf, but is an excellent lip-reader. When she lip-reads two men discussing what sounds like murder, she seeks out Miss Silver for advice--but doesn't take it. Meanwhile, Lucias Bellingden's adopted daughter Moira has convinced him to let her wear Marie Antoinette's diamond neckl...
"A British mystery classic from the renowned author of the beloved Miss Silver series. Due to his uncle's diabolical will, Jervis must marry within three months of his uncle's death, or the huge estate and vast fortune will go to his fiance, Rosamund. When Rosamund dumps him just two days before ...
Meade Underwood believes her fiance drowned when their ship was torpedoed in the Atlantic, and is living in quiet grief with her aunt in an old Victorian mansion turned into eight flats. But Meade's story is only one of many; through the course of the book, we learn the stories of nearly all the ...
Just when I think I've really delved into the Golden Age of mystery writing, that I've read a wide array of authors, and met the most important characters in the genre; I realize something very important, I'm only getting started. Patricia Wentworth and her knitting detective, Miss Silver, have p...
Old Jacob Taverner's father had many siblings, and now Jacob is gathering some of their descendants at the old smuggling inn--the Catherine Wheel--that's been in the family since the 19th century. He claims he's in search of an heir, but he keeps asking the diverse relatives--most of whom had nev...
Miss Maud Hephzibah Silver made her first appearance in 1929, but readers who met her then had an eight year wait before they could meer her again, in 1937’s ‘The Case is Closed’.The story is engaging from the start: Hilary has stepped on to a train, after an argument with her fiancé, Henry, and ...
This was almost unbearably enjoyable; I really didn't want it to end. The combination of village personal drama with murder mystery is great, although of course I suspect I'd like it even more without the mystery."It is quite extraordinary how angrily you can dislike a persopn with whom you are i...