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Benbow Smith #4
Down Under
Foreign Office agent Benbow Smith investigates the disappearance of a bride-to-be--the latest in a series of bizarre abductions--in this thriller from the author of the Miss Silver Mysteries
Rose Anne Carew is to be married tomorrow. During a last-minute discussion of floral wreathes, a stranger calls, refusing to leave a message for the bride. A few hours later, at half-past six, Rose Anne leaves the vicarage to visit her former nurse's sick child. It's the last anyone sees of her.
A week after his fianc�e vanishes, Capt. Oliver Loddon enlists the help of government operative Benbow Smith to find her. To Loddon's shock, Smith believes Rose Anne's disappearance is connected to a notorious defendant's escape from custody a decade earlier. Several other women have gone missing in the past few years, and Smith is certain they were abducted. But he doesn't have enough concrete evidence to convince the police. With little to go on and no idea whether the woman he loves is alive or dead, Captain Loddon risks his own life in a case that hangs on a madman's monstrous scheme.
Down Under is the 4th book in the Benbow Smith Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Rose Anne Carew is to be married tomorrow. During a last-minute discussion of floral wreathes, a stranger calls, refusing to leave a message for the bride. A few hours later, at half-past six, Rose Anne leaves the vicarage to visit her former nurse's sick child. It's the last anyone sees of her.
A week after his fianc�e vanishes, Capt. Oliver Loddon enlists the help of government operative Benbow Smith to find her. To Loddon's shock, Smith believes Rose Anne's disappearance is connected to a notorious defendant's escape from custody a decade earlier. Several other women have gone missing in the past few years, and Smith is certain they were abducted. But he doesn't have enough concrete evidence to convince the police. With little to go on and no idea whether the woman he loves is alive or dead, Captain Loddon risks his own life in a case that hangs on a madman's monstrous scheme.
Down Under is the 4th book in the Benbow Smith Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1937
56 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Wentworth
165 books525 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 - 18 of 18 reviews
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August 29, 2019A full on bonkers pulp thriller in which a young woman disappears before her wedding, and the question is what's happened. The premise is absolutely bananas but in a good way, the author carries it through with conviction and aplomb, and despite the absurdity plus a solid conviction everything would come right, I was glued to the pages. A lot of fun.
December 11, 2023
This plot was truly insane. Redhead supremacists who have formed an Atlas Shrugged-like secret community of criminals in an abandoned mine pull a series of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers kidnappings.
One of the wilder things I've read this year. 3 stars for the audacity of it all.
One of the wilder things I've read this year. 3 stars for the audacity of it all.
June 12, 2008
Wow, what a stinker. I really like Wentworth's Miss Silver mysteries. This is part of a different series heavy on secret crime organizations, evil plots for world domination, and girls in peril. Lame, lame, lame. I was tricked into getting at the library, since it was in plain cover with no information at all. Thinking it was a Miss Silver book that I hadn't read, I couldn't wait to read it. The joke was on me! All about a master criminal who retreats to his secret lair underground in an abandoned mine with his family. To keep them from getting bored, he periodically kidnaps people and brings them to live 'down under.' Oh, and there's a prehistoric and/or supernatural evil shark/fish living in an underground stream. Yeah. Don't bother, unless you want something to laugh at.
May 6, 2018
Free | Deeply, deeply strange. | Wentworth must have taken the brown acid before starting this one. The weirdest thing--aside from the terrifically odd plot--is that unless I missed something, none of the storylines from the several espionage series were ever resolved. What ever happened with Maud Millicent Simpson? Why are none of the Benbow Smith or Frank Garrett books wrapped up properly? What the hell is this book with its crazy lair and prehistoric water beast?!
March 27, 2020
Despite being a serious Patricia Wentworth fan, this book had very little appeal to me. I love the Benbow Smith character, but he was barely present in this book except to ride in on his silver stallion at the end. We have very little idea how he is prescient enough to grasp the location of the evil-doers
"just in time," but that is part of the charm of Wentworth's rather fey puppet-master, Smith.
My somewhat negative reaction to this book was not related to Smith's role, but rather the interminable number of chapters the reader spent accompanying the young hero as he searched (a very very obscure secret location) for his missing bride who left him jilted at the alter on their wedding's eve.
Romance plays a major role in all of Wentworth's books--decidedly part of their charm for those of us who enjoy a gentle mystery. But, this one went a bit over-board in many respects, romantic plot included. I think it is time to return to Wentworth's predictable and always-satisfying Miss Silver.
"just in time," but that is part of the charm of Wentworth's rather fey puppet-master, Smith.
My somewhat negative reaction to this book was not related to Smith's role, but rather the interminable number of chapters the reader spent accompanying the young hero as he searched (a very very obscure secret location) for his missing bride who left him jilted at the alter on their wedding's eve.
Romance plays a major role in all of Wentworth's books--decidedly part of their charm for those of us who enjoy a gentle mystery. But, this one went a bit over-board in many respects, romantic plot included. I think it is time to return to Wentworth's predictable and always-satisfying Miss Silver.
January 30, 2022
Just a few days before I read this book, I read Agatha Christie's So Many Steps to Death, and I was struck by the immense similarity between the two. Wentworth's Down Under was published in 1937, And Christie's So Many Steps to Death was published in 1955. One wonders if Christie had read Wentworth and saved the idea of a community "buried" out of sight and mind of the world, and then she completely re-imagined how it would work.
Where Wentworth's villains take advantage of an old mining operation and then kidnap the people they need to make it function, Christie's are all scientists who choose to join the cooperative of there own free will in order to live in a society that allows them the freedom to work uninterrupted in their fields of research. So the setting is basically the only resemblance between the two.
This was an exciting adventure story with a lot of guts, imagination, and intelligence on the part of our heroes and a ton of villainy on the part of the adversaries. The only person who did not get a just come-uppance at the end was the heroine's odious aunt.
Where Wentworth's villains take advantage of an old mining operation and then kidnap the people they need to make it function, Christie's are all scientists who choose to join the cooperative of there own free will in order to live in a society that allows them the freedom to work uninterrupted in their fields of research. So the setting is basically the only resemblance between the two.
This was an exciting adventure story with a lot of guts, imagination, and intelligence on the part of our heroes and a ton of villainy on the part of the adversaries. The only person who did not get a just come-uppance at the end was the heroine's odious aunt.
April 8, 2025
A nutty kind of a book. It's like a combination of Agatha Christie, Ian Fleming, and Dungeons & Dragons. I think Patricia Wentworth asked herself what was the craziest stuff she could put in a book and still have it almighty make sense. It's not a Miss Silver mystery. It's a Benbow Smith novel. The first I've read. I guess Wentworth let her imagination run riot in those. If you're expecting that you'll probably want to skip this one. I gave it three stars, but really it's more like three and a half. It certainly held my interest.
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March 19, 2022The title doesn't refer to what a modern reader might think of as Down Under. As usual in the Benbow Smith mysteries, the supposed main character makes very few appearances, although they are usually pivotal. Also as usual, the plot strains credulity, but all in all, it's a satisfying read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 9, 2018
I really enjoyed this. Wasn't what I expected but still was good!
August 18, 2018
The silliest of the PE books, with an underground kingdom ruled by a red-haired bad guy and his sons, who have kidnaped numerous people and hold them in sway with drugged coffee.
December 30, 2018
This had a very odd and rather crazy plot but I liked it.
October 23, 2019
Claustrophobic, scary. A gripping read.
December 15, 2023
Tedious
Tedious read. Kept skipping chunks to finish. Just too long for the.plot and characters were rather bland..interesting enough if you can make it through.
Tedious read. Kept skipping chunks to finish. Just too long for the.plot and characters were rather bland..interesting enough if you can make it through.
June 13, 2016
Just boring
I might have like this book more if it had not been a trap story. I just could not finish it.
I might have like this book more if it had not been a trap story. I just could not finish it.
June 10, 2016
Good read. Very suspenseful
Enjoyed it very much. Love Patricia Wentworth. Have always wanted to read her other books but too hard to find.
Enjoyed it very much. Love Patricia Wentworth. Have always wanted to read her other books but too hard to find.
April 17, 2017
Although a little slow at times you can't beat Patricia Wentworth if you want a story full of suspense and intrigue.
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November 29, 2017The first three Benbow Smith books were espionage-ish mysteries, but this is straight out adventure. Reasonably engrossing.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews