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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
A friend gave me her collection of Patricia Wentworth mystery novels featuring Miss Maud Silver. Miss Silver is not your typical sleuth- she works behind the scenes and keeps the main characters going to solve the murder. Enjoyable reads from the golden age of mysteries.
slow-paced
I love detective stories, and especially those in the noir genre. Coming across this series, I was super excited! Detective? The height of the era? Female lead? Ticks all my boxes! I'd just like it more if the title charger was actually in the book. Aside from the chapter long recap, Miss Silver, for whom the series is titled, is on about a dozen pages or so.
From a technical perspective, I greatly enjoy the writing, and characterization. But it just feels like I'm reading the B plot happening around Miss Silver without ever actually following the title character, for I hesitate to call her main character.
I'll likely return to the series, but for now, I'll be reading something other than The Mysteries of the People Around Miss Silver.
From a technical perspective, I greatly enjoy the writing, and characterization. But it just feels like I'm reading the B plot happening around Miss Silver without ever actually following the title character, for I hesitate to call her main character.
I'll likely return to the series, but for now, I'll be reading something other than The Mysteries of the People Around Miss Silver.
In this 2nd Miss Silver mystery, we start to see some glimmers of Wentworth's talent as she starts to experiment more with her characters and plotting.
Hilary's cousin, Marion, has a serious problem. Her husband has been sentenced to prison for a murder.
Like Agatha Christie, we have the couple of Bright Young Things who are trying to get along - Henry with his inherited antiques shop, and Hillary with trying to keep her cousin from sinking into despair (and never said, but possible madness/suicide). You have to take this with a tongue-in-cheek reader attitude today because it is so over-the-top that it could be read as silly.
The primary reason why this one is a cut above the first edition, is our heroine Hilary Carew who is Plucky (with a capitol P) and her relationship with her fiancée, Henry, who's stoicism and pompousness has caused a brief interruption in their engagement.
What the book doesn't do well: there is a HUGE amount of space given to recounting the murder and the evidence through clippings and people re-telling which is mind-blowingly boring. Henry is a bit dense sometimes and could do well with a good slap of common sense.
While the book has flaws and leans heavily on Sherlock Holmes (the long dry recap), we start to see the better side of Wentworth. The murder is clever though the plot is weighed down by far too many coincidences to the point of utter ridiculousness. There is also some amusing dialogue and scenes between Hilary and Henry that also shows Wentworth at her best.
There is a very intense scene when Hilary is in danger during a bike ride in the country that is truly rather scary.
BTW this story really gave me deja vu, because it is VERY similar to the Lady Molly of Scotland Yard stories: Sir Jeremiah’s Will and The End (1910). The crime is the same and some of the clues are super similar.
Hilary's cousin, Marion, has a serious problem. Her husband has been sentenced to prison for a murder.
Like Agatha Christie, we have the couple of Bright Young Things who are trying to get along - Henry with his inherited antiques shop, and Hillary with trying to keep her cousin from sinking into despair (and never said, but possible madness/suicide). You have to take this with a tongue-in-cheek reader attitude today because it is so over-the-top that it could be read as silly.
The primary reason why this one is a cut above the first edition, is our heroine Hilary Carew who is Plucky (with a capitol P) and her relationship with her fiancée, Henry, who's stoicism and pompousness has caused a brief interruption in their engagement.
What the book doesn't do well: there is a HUGE amount of space given to recounting the murder and the evidence through clippings and people re-telling which is mind-blowingly boring. Henry is a bit dense sometimes and could do well with a good slap of common sense.
While the book has flaws and leans heavily on Sherlock Holmes (the long dry recap), we start to see the better side of Wentworth. The murder is clever though the plot is weighed down by far too many coincidences to the point of utter ridiculousness. There is also some amusing dialogue and scenes between Hilary and Henry that also shows Wentworth at her best.
There is a very intense scene when Hilary is in danger during a bike ride in the country that is truly rather scary.
BTW this story really gave me deja vu, because it is VERY similar to the Lady Molly of Scotland Yard stories: Sir Jeremiah’s Will and The End (1910). The crime is the same and some of the clues are super similar.
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
After this second book, I confirm that Patricia Wentworth is good. I really enjoyed this book. Though Hilary did get on my nerves while reading it and I felt our dear sleuth Ms. Silver didn't appear enough as I would've liked, it was a lovely book overall. Aside from Poirot and Ms. Marple, I'm glad to be adding Ms. Maud Silver to my favourite sleuths.
Pretty disappointing. The repetitive retelling of the same events and conversations led me to believe it was either filler, or the author did not trust the reader to retain. I did not care for the lead protagonist nor her fiancee, who is also a lead character, though I think the author meant for the reader to like them. I was irritated a lot through out. I finished it, but I did not care for it, but I will read more of these in this Miss Silver mystery series, I hear other ones are awesome, and I loved book one.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Again, a nice British cozy. In this one, Hillary's cousin's husband has been convicted of murdering his uncle -- but Hillary is convinced he didn't do it. After a chance encounter on a train, she sets out to find out more -- and ends up reconciling with her finance in the process. An improbable story, with a convoluted alibi -- and the one detail that should have caught the eye of the police originally apparently went unnoticed (extremely suspicious lack of fingerprints on a door handle should have been an indication that Geoffrey didn't murder his uncle -- why would he clean the doorhandle and leave only his own prints? A door-handle that was presumably touched by the dead uncle, the housekeeper, the butler, etc, during the normal course of the day?). The intrepid Hillary saves the day, with Miss Silver there to mop up and supply the details of the plot.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No