Although I read some books in the Miss Silver series by Patricia Wentworth when I was younger, in 2017 I returned to the series, first reading The Clock Strikes Twelve. Since then I have read four more books in that series, and now I am a confirmed fan of the Miss Silver books. I find them entertaining and I like the picture they provide of the time that they were written in.
For those not familiar with the Miss Silver mysteries, Maud Silver is an elderly sleuth who is often called in when a crime occurs, usually murder. Unlike Miss Marple, Agatha Christie's sleuth, Miss Silver is a private detective. She always brings her knitting along when she takes on a case. She seems to be the intuitive type of detective, almost psychic in her ability to see through people and pick up on clues in their behavior and mannerisms. She often works with the police, and she demands respect from them.
In this story, Sybil Dryden connives to marry her step-daughter Lida to the cruel but wealthy Herbert Whitall. Lida and Sybil visit him at his country house for a weekend, and after a dinner party, there is a death. The police assume the culprit is either Lida, who is found with a bloody knife standing over the body, or the man she was previously engaged to, Bill Waring. Miss Silver comes on the scene to help out.
This story again features Frank Abbott and Chief Inspector Lamb. Frank has been elevated to Inspector and is conducting the investigation; Lamb just comes in at the end.
I was at first bothered by the stereotypical characters and relationships, with two older people who are well-to-do and controlling, and a pair of lovers who have been separated. But soon the story turns around, all is not what it seemed, and I got more interested. There were plenty of suspects and I was guessing who did it all the way to the end, which I like.
So, in summary, I would rank The Ivory Dagger lower than the other Miss Silver books I have read, but still a fun read for me. I especially would not recommend that anyone read this as their introduction to the series. I do love the cover, though. It is a reprint edition from 1965, published as a Green Door Mystery by Pyramid.
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Publisher: Pyramid, 1965 (first publ. 1950)
Length: 221 pages
Format: Paperback
Series: Miss Silver Mysteries #18
Setting: UK
Genre: Mystery
Source: On my TBR pile for many years.
12 comments:
I know just what you mean, Tracy, about the stereotyped characters. There is often a loving couple kept apart, or an unsympathetic older person, or a silly (or prying) maid, or.... I like it, too, when an author turns that around and creates a different sort of story. I'm glad you enjoyed this one, even if it wasn't the best you've read.
I haven't read any of these.
Margot, I remember finding the Miss Silver stories repetitive when I was younger. Now I enjoy Miss Silver's habits and her relationship with her clients and the police.
Rick, these are comfort reads for me. But the Miss Silver mysteries are not for everyone. I haven't tried any of her other non-Miss Silver books.
I think the only non Miss Silver book I've read by her is The Blind Side, an Inspector Lamb mystery and I enjoyed it. I agree with you that the Miss Silver books are comfort reads.
Katrina, I have a few of the non Miss Silver books that I picked up in the last year two, at the book sale or as ebooks, and I should try them soon.
I read a lot of these back in the day. Miss Silver was perhaps a lesser Miss Marple (to use the age-related comparison. But still entertaining.
Patti, Agatha Christie's plotting is definitely better, but the Miss Silver books have their benefits. I like the depiction of wartime and postwar conditions in the Miss Silver books, for the ones that were published in those years. I still haven't read all of the Miss Marple books and I should get back to those, because there are less of them (and I have DVDs of the Miss Marple adaptations with Joan Hickson and I would prefer that I read them before watching them).
Just like you Tracy - I found these repetitive and rather dull when I was younger, and now enjoy them. I chose this one for my next Miss Silver after you mentioned it I think, and shared many of your views on it. It was more rewarding and less predictable than seemed likely at first...
Moira, it is good that there are so many of these to look forward to. Up to now, I have good luck in finding inexpensive copies and I have supplemented that with ebooks. So I am set for a lot of good reading.
I'd like to read at least something by Wentworth and I have one somewhere. Hopefully it isn't this!
I am glad that you want to try at least one by Wentworth, Col, but I don't see her being a favorite author for you.
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