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Miss Silver #6
Miss Silver Deals With Death
When her fiancé, Giles Armitage, is lost at sea in the middle of the Second World War, Meade Underwood is left in the company of a middle-aged aunt with nothing but a monotonous round of bridge parties and war work to fill her days. A chance encounter restores Giles to Meade but he has lost his memory, and their rediscovered happiness is threatened by the machinations of the scheming Carola Roland, a figure from Giles's forgotten past. So when Carola is viciously murdered, Giles becomes the chief suspect and it takes all Miss Silver's ingenuity to unravel the real significance of the crime and its electrifying consequences.
231 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 1943
447 people are currently reading
779 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Wentworth
162 books522 followersPatricia Wentworth--born Dora Amy Elles--was a British crime fiction writer.
She was educated privately and at Blackheath High School in London. After the death of her first husband, George F. Dillon, in 1906, she settled in Camberley, Surrey. She married George Oliver Turnbull in 1920 and they had one daughter.
She wrote a series of 32 classic-style whodunnits featuring Miss Silver, the first of which was published in 1928, and the last in 1961, the year of her death.
Miss Silver, a retired governess-turned private detective, is sometimes compared to Jane Marple, the elderly detective created by Agatha Christie. She works closely with Scotland Yard, especially Inspector Frank Abbott and is fond of quoting the poet Tennyson.
Wentworth also wrote 34 books outside of that series.
She was educated privately and at Blackheath High School in London. After the death of her first husband, George F. Dillon, in 1906, she settled in Camberley, Surrey. She married George Oliver Turnbull in 1920 and they had one daughter.
She wrote a series of 32 classic-style whodunnits featuring Miss Silver, the first of which was published in 1928, and the last in 1961, the year of her death.
Miss Silver, a retired governess-turned private detective, is sometimes compared to Jane Marple, the elderly detective created by Agatha Christie. She works closely with Scotland Yard, especially Inspector Frank Abbott and is fond of quoting the poet Tennyson.
Wentworth also wrote 34 books outside of that series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 159 reviews
December 17, 2017
This series with super-sleuth Miss Silvers has always interested me – and it is only getting better with each book.
Again, there is a large cast of characters as the bulk of the story takes place in a large 4-storey mansion that has been converted into 8 flats. Within this mansion, there will be blackmail, there will be death and there will be a houseful of potential perpetrators of those crimes.
Although the police are definitely competent and excellent with interviews, it is Miss Silver who always looks below the surface and talks to people on a different level. When she has sufficient information to support facts she has gleaned, she verifies with solid footwork and research.
That is why the police enjoy working with her – most of the time – because she saves them a lot of time that would otherwise be spent with red herrings. Red herrings, as we know, may suggest the truth or even hold part of the truth, but they are definitely not the Truth needed when people’s lives are at stake.
I enjoyed Patricia Wentworth’s writing from the beginning, but it continues to get even better with each book so I look forward to the next Miss Silver book with great anticipation.
Again, there is a large cast of characters as the bulk of the story takes place in a large 4-storey mansion that has been converted into 8 flats. Within this mansion, there will be blackmail, there will be death and there will be a houseful of potential perpetrators of those crimes.
Although the police are definitely competent and excellent with interviews, it is Miss Silver who always looks below the surface and talks to people on a different level. When she has sufficient information to support facts she has gleaned, she verifies with solid footwork and research.
That is why the police enjoy working with her – most of the time – because she saves them a lot of time that would otherwise be spent with red herrings. Red herrings, as we know, may suggest the truth or even hold part of the truth, but they are definitely not the Truth needed when people’s lives are at stake.
I enjoyed Patricia Wentworth’s writing from the beginning, but it continues to get even better with each book so I look forward to the next Miss Silver book with great anticipation.
February 14, 2025
What A Dear. (A Re-read)
Miss Silver is really an old dear. She has a very sharp brain and she uses it for the best things. She is also very sweet and kind and she drops everything to help someone who is in need.
This time she is needed to help solve the mystery of a blackmailing and of a murder. The two may be connected. The chief inspector thinks so, and so does Miss Silver.
The whole thing needs investigating.
Five stars. ✨✨✨✨✨
Miss Silver is really an old dear. She has a very sharp brain and she uses it for the best things. She is also very sweet and kind and she drops everything to help someone who is in need.
This time she is needed to help solve the mystery of a blackmailing and of a murder. The two may be connected. The chief inspector thinks so, and so does Miss Silver.
The whole thing needs investigating.
Five stars. ✨✨✨✨✨
January 10, 2025
This was my introduction to Miss Silver and I like her. Actually she does not appear in the book until about halfway through but then she does a Miss Marple and takes over all the action.
In the first half of the book we meet a variety of people who live in the same apartment building in London. They all have problems of one kind or another and they are all very aware of each other's lives. Then one of them is found murdered in their apartment. Miss Silver is invited to help discover the killer by another resident who thinks they are going to be the main suspect.
I liked the fact that the police were actually competent and not running around arresting just anyone. Also satisfying was their response to Miss Silver. They listened to her ideas and even sought them out. It was all very enjoyable. I think I just found myself another series to follow.
In the first half of the book we meet a variety of people who live in the same apartment building in London. They all have problems of one kind or another and they are all very aware of each other's lives. Then one of them is found murdered in their apartment. Miss Silver is invited to help discover the killer by another resident who thinks they are going to be the main suspect.
I liked the fact that the police were actually competent and not running around arresting just anyone. Also satisfying was their response to Miss Silver. They listened to her ideas and even sought them out. It was all very enjoyable. I think I just found myself another series to follow.
July 1, 2018
Real Rating: 3.75* of five
I wouldn't call this the foremost entry in the Miss Silver canon. It's perfectly fine. I wasn't irked by the sexism and the questionable lapses in fair play, but I was aware of them. Setting a frame of reference for old books...this one is 75 years old!...is de rigueur for modern readers. Patricia Wentworth began her writing career in the category-romance field, as we'd say today, so that attitude pervades her later, and far better, series-mystery output.
Still...Meade Underwood, the female romanticist, and her Giles are awkwardly dropped when Miss Silver begins her delvings into the lives of the twenty or so inhabitants of Vandeleur House. Their story would strain credulity outside a TV soap opera today, with its amnesia, its coincidences, its magic peen (it's an MM romance-fiction term, succinct, judgmental, and wonderfully apt, for Meeting Mr. Right and Melting Into His...Arms or, as I call it, lazy lazy lazy writing). It's a formula, an evergreen one, but really now Author Wentworth you are far too skilled a writer to resort to suchlike tomfoolery!
But this read is a decent one, the usual apposite descriptions and pithy aperçus abounding, and characters made so real you can see their shadows by your reading-light. For those reasons it's a worthy read. But the killer's identity is, in my never-humble opinion, a bit too left field for this to be an excellent mystery despite the denouement being damned near identical to the author's own notes. (I'm morally certain of this but cannot prove it.)
A pleasure read. A pleasure to read. Pleasurable reading.
I wouldn't call this the foremost entry in the Miss Silver canon. It's perfectly fine. I wasn't irked by the sexism and the questionable lapses in fair play, but I was aware of them. Setting a frame of reference for old books...this one is 75 years old!...is de rigueur for modern readers. Patricia Wentworth began her writing career in the category-romance field, as we'd say today, so that attitude pervades her later, and far better, series-mystery output.
Still...Meade Underwood, the female romanticist, and her Giles are awkwardly dropped when Miss Silver begins her delvings into the lives of the twenty or so inhabitants of Vandeleur House. Their story would strain credulity outside a TV soap opera today, with its amnesia, its coincidences, its magic peen (it's an MM romance-fiction term, succinct, judgmental, and wonderfully apt, for Meeting Mr. Right and Melting Into His...Arms or, as I call it, lazy lazy lazy writing). It's a formula, an evergreen one, but really now Author Wentworth you are far too skilled a writer to resort to suchlike tomfoolery!
But this read is a decent one, the usual apposite descriptions and pithy aperçus abounding, and characters made so real you can see their shadows by your reading-light. For those reasons it's a worthy read. But the killer's identity is, in my never-humble opinion, a bit too left field for this to be an excellent mystery despite the denouement being damned near identical to the author's own notes. (I'm morally certain of this but cannot prove it.)
A pleasure read. A pleasure to read. Pleasurable reading.
April 23, 2019
The opening of this book – number 6 of the 32 recorded cases of Miss Maud Silver – is a lovely example of the things that Patricia Wentworth does best.
It is night-time in London, in the early years of the war, and Meade Underwood is wide awake. The cause was a vivid dream of the young man she had fallen in love with after a whirlwind romance calling her, the young man who had been lost at sea just after they had begun to make plans for their future together. Trying to steady herself she began to count the residents of the house where she was staying with her aunt. It was a very old house that had proved impractical and expensive to run in the middle of the twentieth century, and so it had been converted into flats.
Meade was a classic Wentworth heroine, her situation was beautifully drawn, and I found that I was concerned for her and very interested to see how her story would play out. The residents of the house were nicely diverse, I saw a good deal of story potential, and I remembered how very good Patricia Wentworth was at populating her stories with engaging and believable characters. The setting was interesting, and nicely different from the settings of earlier mysteries.
My hopes of a crime story without the usual romance were quickly dashed. Meade was to learn that her young man had survived but that his journey home had been a long one, as he had suffered a serious head injury and lost much of his memory of the few months before. He didn’t remember Meade, but he was drawn to her and pleased that she knew him and was more than ready to help with his recovery.
There was just one complication – and it was pertinent to the crime story. The young lady who occupied a top floor flat in Meade’s house appeared to have a claim on her young man. He couldn’t believe it, she wasn’t the type of girl he would have been involved with, but she seemed to have compelling evidence to support her claim.
I was drawn into that story, but it wasn’t the main event.
Meade didn’t know that her aunt was being blackmailed, or that when she had seen something that made her suspect that her blackmailer was one of her neighbours she had gone to consult a lady detective she had met at a dinner party – Miss Maud Silver.
Miss Silver’s investigation was at a very early stage when she learned that one of the neighbours her client had spoken about had been murdered. She suspected that the blackmail and the murder would be linked, and so she suggested that she became her client’s house guest. That allowed her to meet all of the residents, and she found that there was a lot going on in the different flats.
A married couple was under a great deal of strain. A young woman so wanted to break away from her domineering mother. A young man was keeping a great deal under his hat. An elderly lady who lived along was behaving rather oddly ….
Each of their stories caught my interest.
The human drama was wonderful and the mystery was intriguing. There were many suspects but no obvious solution.
It was lovely to see Miss Silver drawing information out of different people she met. She did particularly well with the cleaning lady, and the set-up of this particular story made me see how effectively she had transferred the skills of her previous career – as a governess – to her new career.
I was pleased to find that the murder case was being investigated by Inspector Lamb and Frank Abbott. The former appears in a few mystery stories of his own that I have yet to read, and I know that the latter reappears in many of Miss Silver’s cases. I was pleased to note that he was able to recall the words of Miss Silver’s beloved Tennyson at exactly the right moment, and I loved the relationship between Miss Silver and the police detectives. They treated each other as professionals who could bring different things to the investigation. The residents told Miss Silver things they would never have told a policewoman ….
The story was entertaining and engaging, there was always something going on, but I have to say that this is not Miss Silver’s finest hour or one of Patricia Wentworth’s best books.
It doesn’t play fair – particularly when Miss Silver goes off on a jaunt and nothing abut it is explained to the reader – and there are a couple of elements of the story that are rather too improbable.
So this is a book to be enjoyed, rather than a book to be analysed.
Now that I’ve finished it I am very curious to learn more about Miss Silver’s next case ….
It is night-time in London, in the early years of the war, and Meade Underwood is wide awake. The cause was a vivid dream of the young man she had fallen in love with after a whirlwind romance calling her, the young man who had been lost at sea just after they had begun to make plans for their future together. Trying to steady herself she began to count the residents of the house where she was staying with her aunt. It was a very old house that had proved impractical and expensive to run in the middle of the twentieth century, and so it had been converted into flats.
Meade was a classic Wentworth heroine, her situation was beautifully drawn, and I found that I was concerned for her and very interested to see how her story would play out. The residents of the house were nicely diverse, I saw a good deal of story potential, and I remembered how very good Patricia Wentworth was at populating her stories with engaging and believable characters. The setting was interesting, and nicely different from the settings of earlier mysteries.
My hopes of a crime story without the usual romance were quickly dashed. Meade was to learn that her young man had survived but that his journey home had been a long one, as he had suffered a serious head injury and lost much of his memory of the few months before. He didn’t remember Meade, but he was drawn to her and pleased that she knew him and was more than ready to help with his recovery.
There was just one complication – and it was pertinent to the crime story. The young lady who occupied a top floor flat in Meade’s house appeared to have a claim on her young man. He couldn’t believe it, she wasn’t the type of girl he would have been involved with, but she seemed to have compelling evidence to support her claim.
I was drawn into that story, but it wasn’t the main event.
Meade didn’t know that her aunt was being blackmailed, or that when she had seen something that made her suspect that her blackmailer was one of her neighbours she had gone to consult a lady detective she had met at a dinner party – Miss Maud Silver.
Miss Silver’s investigation was at a very early stage when she learned that one of the neighbours her client had spoken about had been murdered. She suspected that the blackmail and the murder would be linked, and so she suggested that she became her client’s house guest. That allowed her to meet all of the residents, and she found that there was a lot going on in the different flats.
A married couple was under a great deal of strain. A young woman so wanted to break away from her domineering mother. A young man was keeping a great deal under his hat. An elderly lady who lived along was behaving rather oddly ….
Each of their stories caught my interest.
The human drama was wonderful and the mystery was intriguing. There were many suspects but no obvious solution.
It was lovely to see Miss Silver drawing information out of different people she met. She did particularly well with the cleaning lady, and the set-up of this particular story made me see how effectively she had transferred the skills of her previous career – as a governess – to her new career.
I was pleased to find that the murder case was being investigated by Inspector Lamb and Frank Abbott. The former appears in a few mystery stories of his own that I have yet to read, and I know that the latter reappears in many of Miss Silver’s cases. I was pleased to note that he was able to recall the words of Miss Silver’s beloved Tennyson at exactly the right moment, and I loved the relationship between Miss Silver and the police detectives. They treated each other as professionals who could bring different things to the investigation. The residents told Miss Silver things they would never have told a policewoman ….
The story was entertaining and engaging, there was always something going on, but I have to say that this is not Miss Silver’s finest hour or one of Patricia Wentworth’s best books.
It doesn’t play fair – particularly when Miss Silver goes off on a jaunt and nothing abut it is explained to the reader – and there are a couple of elements of the story that are rather too improbable.
So this is a book to be enjoyed, rather than a book to be analysed.
Now that I’ve finished it I am very curious to learn more about Miss Silver’s next case ….
July 3, 2025
This was a slow starter for me, but it got better and better as it went. I really enjoyed the setting of the house and all the characters in it who make up the human drama. I liked the second half too because we get more Miss Silver!
Buddy read with Jessica! I'm excited to be reading more Miss Silver together.
Buddy read with Jessica! I'm excited to be reading more Miss Silver together.
July 11, 2021
This is the second book I've read in the Miss Silver series by Patricia Wentworth; the other is The Chinese Shawl.
Maud Silver is a retired governess with an understanding of human nature and a keen eye for detail (somewhat like Agatha Christie's Jane Marple). But where Christie is gifted in setting the scene in a minimum number of words, Wentworth takes considerably more time to introduce the story and character motivations. The result is that the reader is pretty sure who's going to be murdered, though the "why" is always more complex than it seems on the surface.
These are gentle, enjoyable mysteries that read easily and have interesting characters. Now that I've discovered Miss Silver, I look forward to spending more time with her.
Maud Silver is a retired governess with an understanding of human nature and a keen eye for detail (somewhat like Agatha Christie's Jane Marple). But where Christie is gifted in setting the scene in a minimum number of words, Wentworth takes considerably more time to introduce the story and character motivations. The result is that the reader is pretty sure who's going to be murdered, though the "why" is always more complex than it seems on the surface.
These are gentle, enjoyable mysteries that read easily and have interesting characters. Now that I've discovered Miss Silver, I look forward to spending more time with her.
June 23, 2024
Actually 3.5 stars. Enjoyable but not great.
August 30, 2022
Miss Silver Deals With Death (Miss Silver, #6) by Patricia Wentworth.
Once more I return to another Miss Silver book with relish! The retired governess leads us on a chase around the flats at Vandeleur House and the inhabitants there. Behind each closed door there is a separate story. Each story has it's own history bringing us closer to the truth behind a mystery of murders.
I enjoyed every page of this book and wonder why many other readers of mystery have not returned to the tried and true Miss silver. Did Miss Marple come after Miss silver or the other way around is up to the reader to decide. At any rate this will be filed under my favorites.
Most highly recommended.
Once more I return to another Miss Silver book with relish! The retired governess leads us on a chase around the flats at Vandeleur House and the inhabitants there. Behind each closed door there is a separate story. Each story has it's own history bringing us closer to the truth behind a mystery of murders.
I enjoyed every page of this book and wonder why many other readers of mystery have not returned to the tried and true Miss silver. Did Miss Marple come after Miss silver or the other way around is up to the reader to decide. At any rate this will be filed under my favorites.
Most highly recommended.
January 23, 2025
An old timey cozy murder mystery set in a British apartment with quirky characters, secrets aplenty including a romance and a twisted plot. This one was written in 1943 by Patricia Wentworth, a pen name for an author who rivalled Agatha Christie in the day but has fallen out of favor. Well written, tight and satisfying. Miss Silver has the alacrity of Miss Marple and the sagacity of Hercules Poirot. Recommended, if you can find it.
July 11, 2014
The beginning of Maudie and Frank, still.... Bring a note card.
I adore Miss Silver : a Victorian styled governess, now retired into the comfortable life of a private inquires agent, in the middle of WWII. With her polite, albeit sometimes deprecating cough, she puts the constables in their place, solves murders, and still manages to get her knitting done.
This is her first encounter with the dear Frank Abbot. [Their relationship is utterly adorable and it is so much fun to see where it began]
As for the case : BRING A NOTE CARD! There are so many people living in the building that is is a little hard to keep track of who is who and doing what. From the scheming Carola Roland's attempt at blackmail to a real blackmailer... From death number one to death number two... From the flats on the first floor to the flats on the seventh... This book will definitively keep you on your toes. It has more twists and turns than the building's staircase.
But not to worry! When all is said and done Miss Silver has knitted out a solution and won the hearts of those involved. After all, one can't have too many woolen socks.
I adore Miss Silver : a Victorian styled governess, now retired into the comfortable life of a private inquires agent, in the middle of WWII. With her polite, albeit sometimes deprecating cough, she puts the constables in their place, solves murders, and still manages to get her knitting done.
This is her first encounter with the dear Frank Abbot. [Their relationship is utterly adorable and it is so much fun to see where it began]
As for the case : BRING A NOTE CARD! There are so many people living in the building that is is a little hard to keep track of who is who and doing what. From the scheming Carola Roland's attempt at blackmail to a real blackmailer... From death number one to death number two... From the flats on the first floor to the flats on the seventh... This book will definitively keep you on your toes. It has more twists and turns than the building's staircase.
But not to worry! When all is said and done Miss Silver has knitted out a solution and won the hearts of those involved. After all, one can't have too many woolen socks.
September 1, 2019
Sept. 2019 reread via my dad's Kindle:
Even though I remembered enough of the plot to easily guess who the guilty person was, I still found this early entry in the Miss Silver series a lot of fun.
Even though I remembered enough of the plot to easily guess who the guilty person was, I still found this early entry in the Miss Silver series a lot of fun.
September 21, 2021
Free download available at Faded Page.
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 inhabitants of Vandaleur House, because they all might have a bearing on the murder of top floor Carola Roland. Carola, a former showgirl with a taste for the nastiest revenge she can exact for any type of slight, has gone a step too far with someone...but who? Only Miss Silver can figure that out, if the police will just trust her.
3* Grey Mask (Miss Silver, #1)
4* The Case Is Closed (Miss Silver, #2)
4* Lonesome Road (Miss Silver, #3)
CR Miss Silver Deals With Death (Miss Silver, #6)
3* The Case of William Smith (Miss Silver, #13)
2* The Ivory Dagger (Miss Silver, #19)
4* Out of the Past (Miss Silver, #23)
3* The Benevent Treasure (Miss Silver, #26)
2* A Marriage Under the Terror
2* Beggar's Choice
4* The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith: A Golden Age Mystery
TR Danger Point (Miss Silver, #4)
TR The Chinese Shawl (Miss Silver, #5)
TR The Clock Strikes Twelve (Miss Silver, #7)
TR The Key (Miss Silver, #8)
TR She Came Back (Miss Silver, #9)
TR Pilgrim's Rest (Miss Silver, #10)
TR Latter End (Miss Silver, #11)
TR Wicked Uncle (Miss Silver, #12)
TR Eternity Ring (Miss Silver, #14)
TR Miss Silver Comes to Stay (Miss Silver, #15)
TR The Catherine Wheel (Miss Silver, #16)
TR The Brading Collection (Miss Silver, #17)
TR Poison in the Pen (Miss Silver, #29)
TR Devil's Wind
TR The Fire Within
TR The Black Cabinet
TR Danger Calling
TR Run!
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 inhabitants of Vandaleur House, because they all might have a bearing on the murder of top floor Carola Roland. Carola, a former showgirl with a taste for the nastiest revenge she can exact for any type of slight, has gone a step too far with someone...but who? Only Miss Silver can figure that out, if the police will just trust her.
3* Grey Mask (Miss Silver, #1)
4* The Case Is Closed (Miss Silver, #2)
4* Lonesome Road (Miss Silver, #3)
CR Miss Silver Deals With Death (Miss Silver, #6)
3* The Case of William Smith (Miss Silver, #13)
2* The Ivory Dagger (Miss Silver, #19)
4* Out of the Past (Miss Silver, #23)
3* The Benevent Treasure (Miss Silver, #26)
2* A Marriage Under the Terror
2* Beggar's Choice
4* The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith: A Golden Age Mystery
TR Danger Point (Miss Silver, #4)
TR The Chinese Shawl (Miss Silver, #5)
TR The Clock Strikes Twelve (Miss Silver, #7)
TR The Key (Miss Silver, #8)
TR She Came Back (Miss Silver, #9)
TR Pilgrim's Rest (Miss Silver, #10)
TR Latter End (Miss Silver, #11)
TR Wicked Uncle (Miss Silver, #12)
TR Eternity Ring (Miss Silver, #14)
TR Miss Silver Comes to Stay (Miss Silver, #15)
TR The Catherine Wheel (Miss Silver, #16)
TR The Brading Collection (Miss Silver, #17)
TR Poison in the Pen (Miss Silver, #29)
TR Devil's Wind
TR The Fire Within
TR The Black Cabinet
TR Danger Calling
TR Run!
June 27, 2020
Sergeant Abbott shut the door and stood against it, not lounging now, but slim and upright and tall, his face expressionless and his blue eyes cool. Actually, he was conscious of some excitement. Was Maudie going to land them in a fiasco, or were they going to bring off something big? He had a tingling in his bones which he did not remember to have experienced over a case before. He looked at the quiet, ordinary people sitting round the room and wondered at himself. He looked at Miss Maud Silver and wondered at her, a quiet, ordinary spinster sitting side by side with another quiet, ordinary spinster, only a bit of Highland tartan between them and the stain made by the blood of a murdered chorus girl—murdered in this room, and perhaps by one of these very ordinary people. Fantastic, but—well, here they were. Ring up the curtain!
January 27, 2020
Once again, Patricia Wentworth delivers a fascinating opening to a murder mystery and here, also, a most interesting idea of setting it mainly in an old house which has been divided into eight flats.
There is the usual mixture of romance and a little gentle detection of blackmail and murder, spiced with some wartime espionage. There are fairly good attempts, too, at red herring. All in all this is an above average Miss Silver.
Despite the authorial deception, I felt it was fairly clear from which household the crimes originated.
Worth reading.
3.5 stars
There is the usual mixture of romance and a little gentle detection of blackmail and murder, spiced with some wartime espionage. There are fairly good attempts, too, at red herring. All in all this is an above average Miss Silver.
Despite the authorial deception, I felt it was fairly clear from which household the crimes originated.
Worth reading.
3.5 stars
July 8, 2017
Another wonderful Miss Silver mystery. Patricia Wentworth has become one of my favorite mystery writers. Miss Silver is a fabulous private investigator. She figures in each book, but the other characters are so well developed that one almost forgets her until she makes her most propitious entrance and solves the mystery.
August 21, 2025
ze lezen zo prettig, maar deze was wel een beetje saai met veel rode harinkjes die er uiteindelijk helemaal niet toe deden
June 3, 2013
Miss Silver Deals With Death (aka Miss Silver Intervenes) is one of Patricia Wentworth's early outings with the former governess turned private investigator. The sixth in the series, this story focuses on the inmates of Vandeleur house and the murder that takes place on its once grand upper floors. The house was once a showplace of the Victorian era--home to a famous court painter. Since then it has been divided into eight flats with secrets behind every door.
There is the woman whose circumstances have changed and who is steadily selling off her possessions just to have money to live. There is the secretive gentleman who won't tell anyone what he does for a living. There is the downtrodden daughter who is a virtual slave to her overbearing mother. There is the apparent invalid and her tiny entourage. There is the victim-to-be, Carola Roland, a member of the theatrical community who is currently taking rest and waiting for a possible future husband to divorce his current wife. There is Mrs. Underwood who is being blackmailed and her sleepwalking maid....and then there is Mrs. Underwood's niece (by marriage, "not that I make any difference about that"), Meade Underwood.
Meade has come to stay with her aunt in order to recover from a disastrous shipwreck resulting from an enemy torpedo. Meade not only needs to regain her strength, but she also must recover from the loss of her fiance, Giles Armitage who disappeared when the ship went down. One evening Meade is on her way home after running errands for her aunt when she runs into Giles. She immediately recognizes him--but he has lost memories from the months prior to the torpedo attack through to the time of his rescue. Their courtship had been a short one, so all memory of Meade and their engagement are gone.
As Meade and Giles start to get to know one another again, the secrets in Vandeleur house start trickling out. Carola Roland claims a prior acquaintance with Giles....a very close acquaintance....and she begins to act very sly and nasty indeed. Meanwhile, Mrs. Underwood consults Miss Silver about the blackmail but before much can be done Carola is murdered and Giles becomes a chief suspect. Hot on the trail of the blackmailer, Miss Silver manages to uncover all of the secrets lurking behind the closed doors of Vandeleur house....including the identity of the murderer!
Miss Silver is good comfort, cozy reading. I'm not entirely sure how well the temporary, partial amnesia is portrayed...and that does seem to be a favorite plot device for various vintage mystery writers...but it does make for a nice little storyline. I enjoyed the way Wentworth handled her characters and let us in on the secrets behind the flat doors. Three stars for a comfortable read.
This was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting any portion. Thanks!
There is the woman whose circumstances have changed and who is steadily selling off her possessions just to have money to live. There is the secretive gentleman who won't tell anyone what he does for a living. There is the downtrodden daughter who is a virtual slave to her overbearing mother. There is the apparent invalid and her tiny entourage. There is the victim-to-be, Carola Roland, a member of the theatrical community who is currently taking rest and waiting for a possible future husband to divorce his current wife. There is Mrs. Underwood who is being blackmailed and her sleepwalking maid....and then there is Mrs. Underwood's niece (by marriage, "not that I make any difference about that"), Meade Underwood.
Meade has come to stay with her aunt in order to recover from a disastrous shipwreck resulting from an enemy torpedo. Meade not only needs to regain her strength, but she also must recover from the loss of her fiance, Giles Armitage who disappeared when the ship went down. One evening Meade is on her way home after running errands for her aunt when she runs into Giles. She immediately recognizes him--but he has lost memories from the months prior to the torpedo attack through to the time of his rescue. Their courtship had been a short one, so all memory of Meade and their engagement are gone.
As Meade and Giles start to get to know one another again, the secrets in Vandeleur house start trickling out. Carola Roland claims a prior acquaintance with Giles....a very close acquaintance....and she begins to act very sly and nasty indeed. Meanwhile, Mrs. Underwood consults Miss Silver about the blackmail but before much can be done Carola is murdered and Giles becomes a chief suspect. Hot on the trail of the blackmailer, Miss Silver manages to uncover all of the secrets lurking behind the closed doors of Vandeleur house....including the identity of the murderer!
Miss Silver is good comfort, cozy reading. I'm not entirely sure how well the temporary, partial amnesia is portrayed...and that does seem to be a favorite plot device for various vintage mystery writers...but it does make for a nice little storyline. I enjoyed the way Wentworth handled her characters and let us in on the secrets behind the flat doors. Three stars for a comfortable read.
This was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting any portion. Thanks!
December 12, 2015
An unengaging title for what was an entertaining sort of read. Blackmail, murder, a ghostly visitor on a misty night, and a touch of international espionage. One of our brave boys stricken with amnesia after being torpedoed meets up with the girl he left behind who thought he was killed in action, for a little romance interest. Miss Silver is at hand to set things going, though this time she's knitting Army socks instead of baby things. Those are the only real indications that there's a war on--little talk of rationing etc. though it was written in 1943. But then many wartime mysteries were all about diversion from the tough realities of wartime Britain. Maybe that's why there's so little in the way of actual violence--the reading public didn't need more.
I did agree with the police inspector in charge, that there are too many threads in this particular web, too many people who coulda dunnit. Instead of a house-party, we have a houseful--a block of flats where many people just sort of wander in an out, listening at each other's doors, and everyone has access to everyone else's doorkey. Amusingly enough from a modern standpoint, the servants (ie caretaker, maids and cleaner) are crossed off the list of suspects from the start because they're"local characters". Wentworth couldn't resist the temptation to write her own version of "the library scene"--and everyone turns up, like the little British lambs they are. The wrap is a bit convenient, but aren't they always?
(I see the original title was "Miss Silver Intervenes" which is if anything less engaging than the title I read it under.)
I did agree with the police inspector in charge, that there are too many threads in this particular web, too many people who coulda dunnit. Instead of a house-party, we have a houseful--a block of flats where many people just sort of wander in an out, listening at each other's doors, and everyone has access to everyone else's doorkey. Amusingly enough from a modern standpoint, the servants (ie caretaker, maids and cleaner) are crossed off the list of suspects from the start because they're"local characters". Wentworth couldn't resist the temptation to write her own version of "the library scene"--and everyone turns up, like the little British lambs they are. The wrap is a bit convenient, but aren't they always?
(I see the original title was "Miss Silver Intervenes" which is if anything less engaging than the title I read it under.)
February 28, 2015
I really enjoyed reading this book.
January 11, 2022
Another intriguing mystery, I loved the opening and was immediately drawn in to the book. Patricia Wentworth's characters are so well developed and believable and I adore Miss Silver.
July 25, 2020
Of course many Golden Age mysteries rely on really remarkable coincidences, but Miss Silver Deals With Death has rather more than the standard. Vandeleur House, a stately London manor house now divided into eight apartments has secrets - and coincidences - behind every door. There are unknown family connections, identical rings with different owners, multiple blackmailers, espionage, murder, two romances, the world's most convenient case of partial amnesia, and a master of disguise. All under one roof!
Wentworth handles all this if not with ease, then with efficiency. There a more than a few character moments that are very well done. This is the sixth of the Miss Silver mysteries that I've read in about a year, and none of them have really stood out as satisfying puzzles, but I love Wentworth's easy style and quirky characters. The murders are just a bit of fun going on the side.
Mystery: 2, Cozy:5. Verdict: 4.
Wentworth handles all this if not with ease, then with efficiency. There a more than a few character moments that are very well done. This is the sixth of the Miss Silver mysteries that I've read in about a year, and none of them have really stood out as satisfying puzzles, but I love Wentworth's easy style and quirky characters. The murders are just a bit of fun going on the side.
Mystery: 2, Cozy:5. Verdict: 4.
October 24, 2022
I finally read a Miss Silver and liked it very much. Yes, some of the views are outdated but when you consider the length of Wentworth's career, it's not surprising. The mystery was only somewhat intriguing as you saw the murder coming very early on but the train took a very long time to reach the station. And that was before all of suspects had to be interviewed, or bumped off or threatened. What I did like was how quietly intelligent Miss Silver is, even if she doesn't rush herself enough to prevent things getting rather messy along the way of her investigation. And the romance was very wan, with a heroine the same shade of blah. But the best character of all was Vandeleur House, the old Victorian house renovated into all those cunning flats and lovingly described in all its eccentric glory. I could have studied a map of Vandeleur House for hours, dreaming of a nice little one bedroom with all the trimmings, right there in wartime London, somehow safe from bombs and doodlebugs and staff laid in and lovely views of the park...sigh.
November 28, 2018
This was the best of the Miss Silver mysteries so far. I've enjoyed them all, but this one was particularly good, with its plethora of characters and suspects. All the characters were well drawn, the protagonist (Meade Underwood) wasn't too much of a ditz (as a couple of protagonists in the previous books in the series were). There were lovely red herrings galore, amusing references to those wretched murder mysteries that make the cops look bad, and Miss Silver herself, winning admiration and producing astonishment everywhere she goes.
May 18, 2018
Another competent cozy set during WWII, with not one but two ingenues, blackmail, many double identities, amnesia, and of course the bullish Chief Inspector Lamb, his urbane u Serling Abbot, and the mild-mannered spinster detective Miss Silver. The war only intrudes as ration coupons, military ranks, and blackout curtains, but English society from top to bottom all get a cameo.
April 16, 2020
A very enjoyable entry in the Miss Silver canon. There’s young lovers, some amnesia, some wartime shenanigans, and a big reveal as all the suspects are gathered dutifully together. The plot revolves around the murder of a bottle blonde tenant causing problems for a number of inhabitants of a block of flats in wartime London. The mystery doesn’t really play fair as it relies on investigation the reader isn’t privy to, but it was a comfortable and atmospheric read. 3.5.
September 3, 2020
A flat full of people who are hard to keep track of and a murder that is largely solved by putting together timetables - not my kind of mystery although Miss Silver is as clever as ever and I did like the twist that comes very early in the book. The two love stories are also enjoyable and sweet. But overall one that could be skipped.
January 12, 2025
A delightful classic, cozy mystery from the Golden Age. This was my first outing with Patricia Wentworth and I can't wait to read more books in this series. Charming and intelligent from beginning to end. Highly recommended.
June 17, 2022
Another fantastic Miss Silver read. She's totally one of the best amateur sleuths.
August 2, 2022
3.5 stars 🌟 I was debating whether to give it 3 or 4. I like Patricia Wentworth's books but so far they're just slightly below Agatha Christie.
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