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Blindfold
An elegant English townhouse conceals a viper’s nest of greed and evil in this riveting tale of romantic suspense from the author of the Miss Silver Mysteries Flossie Palmer is in the drawing room of No. 16 Varley Street pretending to be someone else when she gets the shock of her life. In the six-foot, gilt-framed mirror against the wall, a black gaping hole appears where there should be glass. A man’s bloody head comes into view, followed by a hand trying to claw its way out of the darkness, and then another face with cruel, staring eyes. Terrified, Flossie flees for her life. Newly returned from Paris, Miles Clayton has come back to London on a mission. His employer, a wealthy American, wants Miles to find his long-lost niece so he can bequeath her his enormous fortune. All Miles knows is her Miss Macintyre. When Miles and Flossie meet by chance, he has no idea that she could be the woman he’s searching for. And now someone has attempted to kill the housemaid Flossie was impersonating—but who was the intended victim? As Miles moves closer to the truth, he uncovers a tangled family history of lies and lethal secrets.
217 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1930
135 people are currently reading
150 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 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 22, 2020
When life has you wanting a book that is diverting and not too demanding, one of Patricia Wentworth’s stand-alone stories might be the very thing.
This one was just that for me.
The story opens in London, when a woman and a man sit on the same bench very late at night.
Flossie had just taken a new job as a parlour maid. She found herself in a house of four women, the other three being the elderly employer she would never see, the nurse who protected her fiercely, and the book who never left the basement. When Flossie had handed over the old lady’s night-time drink and was on her way back downstairs, she looked into the drawing room. Where she had previously seen a large mirror in a gilt frame she saw just the frame, and she was sure that a human face was looking out from the dark space where the mirror once was. She was terrified and she fled, vowing to never set foot in the house again.
Miles was the secretary to a wealthy American, and he had come to London to look for his employer’s young niece. Her parents had died when she was an infant, nearly twenty years earlier and the family didn’t know what had become of the child. The child had been left a fortune by an elderly relation, and so it was decided that it was time she was found. Unfortunately Miles’ luggage was in Paris, his pocket-book was stolen, the friends who he hoped would put him up were away, and so he wasn’t at all sure what he should do for the night.
Eager to talk about, Flossie told ‘Mr Miles’ all about what had happened to her. He was incredulous, but he found that he couldn’t question her sincerity or her emotional state. They talked together for some time, and then Flossie went home to the aunt who had raised her and Miles set off to untangle his problems and begin his quest.
Neither expected to meet again, but they did; because, of course, the mystery of the missing heiress and the mystery of what happened at that house were closely linked.
A new parlour maid and Miles’s friends would also be drawn into the plot.
There is a great deal of plot, with many twists and along the way, and I was captivated from the first page to the last.
The book is a little over-full, but I really can’t think I would have left out.
There is a large and diverse cast of characters, and each one has a part to play and a story of their own. I would have been happy to spend more time with many of them; and I would have loved to know just a little more about certain stories that played out in the past or the might play out after the story in this book was over.
Patricia Wentworth had the gift of bringing characters to life, of making her readers care, quickly and efficiently; and she knew exactly which details to share to illuminate them, their lives and their world.
In this book she went right across the class spectrum, without ever hitting a wrong note.
There is much intrigue, wonderful human drama and a good dash of romance before everything is resolved.
I was held in the moment, because there was always something to hold my interest, and that is the best way to read this book. I wouldn’t advise thinking too much about the overall structure, because that reveals many coincidences, much that is highly improbable, and a criminal plot that is downright silly.
This isn’t a book to challenge my favourite Patrician Wentworth stand-alones – the courtroom drama in 'Silence in Court' and and the romantic suspense in 'Kingdom Lost' – but it is a wonderful entertainment and it was definitely the right book at the right time.
This one was just that for me.
The story opens in London, when a woman and a man sit on the same bench very late at night.
Flossie had just taken a new job as a parlour maid. She found herself in a house of four women, the other three being the elderly employer she would never see, the nurse who protected her fiercely, and the book who never left the basement. When Flossie had handed over the old lady’s night-time drink and was on her way back downstairs, she looked into the drawing room. Where she had previously seen a large mirror in a gilt frame she saw just the frame, and she was sure that a human face was looking out from the dark space where the mirror once was. She was terrified and she fled, vowing to never set foot in the house again.
Miles was the secretary to a wealthy American, and he had come to London to look for his employer’s young niece. Her parents had died when she was an infant, nearly twenty years earlier and the family didn’t know what had become of the child. The child had been left a fortune by an elderly relation, and so it was decided that it was time she was found. Unfortunately Miles’ luggage was in Paris, his pocket-book was stolen, the friends who he hoped would put him up were away, and so he wasn’t at all sure what he should do for the night.
Eager to talk about, Flossie told ‘Mr Miles’ all about what had happened to her. He was incredulous, but he found that he couldn’t question her sincerity or her emotional state. They talked together for some time, and then Flossie went home to the aunt who had raised her and Miles set off to untangle his problems and begin his quest.
Neither expected to meet again, but they did; because, of course, the mystery of the missing heiress and the mystery of what happened at that house were closely linked.
A new parlour maid and Miles’s friends would also be drawn into the plot.
There is a great deal of plot, with many twists and along the way, and I was captivated from the first page to the last.
The book is a little over-full, but I really can’t think I would have left out.
There is a large and diverse cast of characters, and each one has a part to play and a story of their own. I would have been happy to spend more time with many of them; and I would have loved to know just a little more about certain stories that played out in the past or the might play out after the story in this book was over.
Patricia Wentworth had the gift of bringing characters to life, of making her readers care, quickly and efficiently; and she knew exactly which details to share to illuminate them, their lives and their world.
In this book she went right across the class spectrum, without ever hitting a wrong note.
There is much intrigue, wonderful human drama and a good dash of romance before everything is resolved.
I was held in the moment, because there was always something to hold my interest, and that is the best way to read this book. I wouldn’t advise thinking too much about the overall structure, because that reveals many coincidences, much that is highly improbable, and a criminal plot that is downright silly.
This isn’t a book to challenge my favourite Patrician Wentworth stand-alones – the courtroom drama in 'Silence in Court' and and the romantic suspense in 'Kingdom Lost' – but it is a wonderful entertainment and it was definitely the right book at the right time.
March 19, 2022
This is basically every trope I hate in a book -- secret conspiracy, secret heiress, random plot twists for no good reason. And to make matters worse almost all the characters are bumbling idiots. Please read Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver series instead and start with book #2.
January 6, 2021
Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver mysteries have long been one of my "comfort reads." Recently, thanks to inexpensive Kindle editions, I've also begun reading more of her stand-alones, which serve the same purpose. Blindfold is one of those.
Miles, the hero, arrives on the scene in England having had his pocket picked on the Channel crossing. Though English, he has been working as a private secretary for a wealthy American. Now, he is tasked with finding the American's long-lost niece, who is likely to be his only heir. It is the eve of World War II, and the girl was last heard of as an infant at the outset of World War I. Because he arrives ID-less and penniless late at night, Miles ends up spending the night "sleeping rough" in London in a dense fog. There he meets a young housemaid who has fled her job after seeing a shocking sight. Miles tends to discount this at first, but further events make him reevaluate her story. Then, (ID and money restored, since he has influential friends in London), he runs into another young woman whom he knew briefly in childhood when she was temporarily fostered by his mother.
SPOILER
Both young women turn out to have stories that may mean one of them is the missing heiress. When the second (with whom he is falling in love) takes the departed housemaid's job, the plot thickens.
END OF SPOILER
Even international intrigue enters the story, and there is a surprise ending. It is hardly a spoiler to say that all true romances in the book end happily, for this is one feature of which one can be sure in Wentworth's books. An enjoyable read for those who don't mind slightly preposterous scenarios with a bit of romance thrown in.
Miles, the hero, arrives on the scene in England having had his pocket picked on the Channel crossing. Though English, he has been working as a private secretary for a wealthy American. Now, he is tasked with finding the American's long-lost niece, who is likely to be his only heir. It is the eve of World War II, and the girl was last heard of as an infant at the outset of World War I. Because he arrives ID-less and penniless late at night, Miles ends up spending the night "sleeping rough" in London in a dense fog. There he meets a young housemaid who has fled her job after seeing a shocking sight. Miles tends to discount this at first, but further events make him reevaluate her story. Then, (ID and money restored, since he has influential friends in London), he runs into another young woman whom he knew briefly in childhood when she was temporarily fostered by his mother.
SPOILER
Both young women turn out to have stories that may mean one of them is the missing heiress. When the second (with whom he is falling in love) takes the departed housemaid's job, the plot thickens.
END OF SPOILER
Even international intrigue enters the story, and there is a surprise ending. It is hardly a spoiler to say that all true romances in the book end happily, for this is one feature of which one can be sure in Wentworth's books. An enjoyable read for those who don't mind slightly preposterous scenarios with a bit of romance thrown in.
February 12, 2020
Three young women with no connection to each other are linked by something in the past. And someone is willing to kill to get it from them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 6, 2018
Free | Reasonably suspenseful and creative, but obvious resolution and rife with coincidence | If you try to figure this out by following the strict letter of the text, following each 19 1/2 year old girl and the people who raised her, you'll likely just go round in circles. There are far too many people crammed into a short book. If, however, you go by feel, you'll realize immediately that there's only one resolution that readers of the time would have considered a happy ending. There are certain classes that were "allowed" to be the surprise heiress, and others that weren't. The romantic hero could not be expected to marry his love if she were richer than he. That sort of thing.
November 25, 2020
This book will give your brain a workout.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The three girls at the heart of the story are each delightful in their own way. There is a spooky house with secret rooms. There is a handsome hero. It's easy to get lost with all the interactions between the characters. I found it fun.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The three girls at the heart of the story are each delightful in their own way. There is a spooky house with secret rooms. There is a handsome hero. It's easy to get lost with all the interactions between the characters. I found it fun.
November 4, 2020
A young man looking for a missing heiress. Three possible girls could be the one. Filled with drama, coincidences, disguises, and an odd ending. It was a lovely diversion, and it gave a good picture of what a cook and parlor maid do all day.
March 1, 2021
Lila would be great friends with Daisy Buchanan. Overall, this was a solid mystery with several twists and turns, and an adorable precocious kitten. The ending was fairly abrupt, but I don't have much to complain about.
June 19, 2016
Pas trenscandant mais sympa, malgré une enquête qui traîne en longueur. Ambiance à la Agatha Christie (Wentworth étant la précurseur de la dame !).
October 21, 2020
This book is filled with insane coincidences, like many of Wentworth's books but even more so, so many insane coincidences, that the title really ought to have been “Insane Coincidences”. I lost track of them at a certain point, and started to skim the book rather than read it very closely, because it seemed silly.
Similar to another book by this author, I noticed possible inspiration for bits from a book by George Orwell: “The Clergyman's Daughter”. Interesting... But as with this author's early works, there is a repulsive racist word/expression. They only disappeared, I'm guessing, when her editors and publishers made her stop using them.
We have a Dickensian waif, evildoers out to take advantage of her, people from the past working for good and bad, invalids, the greedy, cellars, prisoners, etc. all elements readers of her later books will recognize. There are lots of characters, each with distinct voices. The 3rd person omniscient narration allows us into their heads and hearts.
Question 1: What in heavens name does the title have to do with the book? Nothing that I can see!
Question 2: What happened to Kay's kitten? Did her beloved just dump it on the street? What a bastard!
Question 3: Why is there a cover with a girl in a nightdress with a candle in a cellar? That has nothing to do with anything in the story.
Similar to another book by this author, I noticed possible inspiration for bits from a book by George Orwell: “The Clergyman's Daughter”. Interesting... But as with this author's early works, there is a repulsive racist word/expression. They only disappeared, I'm guessing, when her editors and publishers made her stop using them.
We have a Dickensian waif, evildoers out to take advantage of her, people from the past working for good and bad, invalids, the greedy, cellars, prisoners, etc. all elements readers of her later books will recognize. There are lots of characters, each with distinct voices. The 3rd person omniscient narration allows us into their heads and hearts.
Question 1: What in heavens name does the title have to do with the book? Nothing that I can see!
Question 2: What happened to Kay's kitten? Did her beloved just dump it on the street? What a bastard!
Question 3: Why is there a cover with a girl in a nightdress with a candle in a cellar? That has nothing to do with anything in the story.
May 4, 2019
Vintage Mystery
This is a mystery and a romance combined and quite charming. It has none of Wentworth's sleuths such as Miss Silver but it's well worth reading. It's about as far from a modern noir mystery as you could get and there's no murder being investigated. Rather a missing child is being searched for that was lost in London when her mother died as WWII was breaking out. It depends on coincidences to bring all the characters together but you as a reader just discover that as you read.
This is a mystery and a romance combined and quite charming. It has none of Wentworth's sleuths such as Miss Silver but it's well worth reading. It's about as far from a modern noir mystery as you could get and there's no murder being investigated. Rather a missing child is being searched for that was lost in London when her mother died as WWII was breaking out. It depends on coincidences to bring all the characters together but you as a reader just discover that as you read.
July 25, 2025
Tense
Have read several Miss Silver books and liked them all. Blindfold I found to be more convoluted and had to work harder to keep relationships of secondary characters straight. That being said the tension of the story line is incredible. Turns any preconceived notions and predictions reader makes get turned topsy-turvy.
Have read several Miss Silver books and liked them all. Blindfold I found to be more convoluted and had to work harder to keep relationships of secondary characters straight. That being said the tension of the story line is incredible. Turns any preconceived notions and predictions reader makes get turned topsy-turvy.
January 5, 2025
Première lecture de l’année terminée !
Un roman policier historique sympathique au cœur de Londres dans les années 1930.
J’ai passé un bon moment et ça me donne envie de lire plus de livres de cette autrice.
Un roman policier historique sympathique au cœur de Londres dans les années 1930.
J’ai passé un bon moment et ça me donne envie de lire plus de livres de cette autrice.
January 18, 2026
This book is a scam. it was not that bad : I mean the plot is quite interesting even though it is quite predictable. However I was expecting a different main character ( Flossie is not ) and a different story ( a run away across London)
October 17, 2017
An enjoyable golden age adventure story. Nothing much to it. An awful lot of coincidences.
September 14, 2019
So confusing...!
Twists and turns galore. It's not until the last few pages that who's who comes to light. A letdown for sure, for me at least.
Twists and turns galore. It's not until the last few pages that who's who comes to light. A letdown for sure, for me at least.
December 18, 2019
While not one of her stronger mysteries, it was diverting.
March 1, 2021
Enjoyed
I enjoyed this mystery quite a bit. It reminded me of the Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew mysteries that I read decades ago. Fun but still interesting.
I enjoyed this mystery quite a bit. It reminded me of the Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew mysteries that I read decades ago. Fun but still interesting.
Read
February 4, 2022Another of Wentworth's books based on an interesting premise, involving clever bad guys, negligent relatives, and not one, but two inheritances hanging in the balance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2023
This was a fascinating, terrifying mystery from beginning to end. Loved the characters and the plots' twists and turns!
September 13, 2016
Romance and intrigue
What happened to little baby McIntyre 20 years ago? Miles Clayton is tasked with tracking down a missing heiress, but there was more than one missing baby and Miles is not the only person trying to find them! This story has it all: romance, mystery, spooky corridors and mirrors that hide secret doors. And more twists than a maze.
What happened to little baby McIntyre 20 years ago? Miles Clayton is tasked with tracking down a missing heiress, but there was more than one missing baby and Miles is not the only person trying to find them! This story has it all: romance, mystery, spooky corridors and mirrors that hide secret doors. And more twists than a maze.
February 28, 2015
Désuet mais charmant.
June 19, 2016
Another lovely quick read.
August 1, 2022
I loved this book. It was a fun, easy read about a man searching for a heiress. I loved the way she wrote this book. The characters and setting were interesting and the mystery was very good.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews