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Miss Silver #27
The Gazebo
Miss Silver searches for the killer of an oppressive old woman.
Althea Graham might have had a life of her own, had it not been for her mother. But when her father died she inherited her bitter, temperamental parent along with the house, and she has borne that burden ever since. She nearly escaped once, but her engagement to Nicholas Carey caused her mother to fall into illness, convincing Althea to keep living with her until the sickness claimed her life.
That was five years ago, and Mrs. Graham is as fit as ever. Althea’s gloom lifts when Nicholas returns, and it appears that love may bloom again. Mother clings as tightly as ever, of course, but Althea has hope once more. Then murder comes to their household, and the young woman’s last chance at happiness is dashed forever — unless Maud Silver, the gentlewoman detective, can save the day.
Althea Graham might have had a life of her own, had it not been for her mother. But when her father died she inherited her bitter, temperamental parent along with the house, and she has borne that burden ever since. She nearly escaped once, but her engagement to Nicholas Carey caused her mother to fall into illness, convincing Althea to keep living with her until the sickness claimed her life.
That was five years ago, and Mrs. Graham is as fit as ever. Althea’s gloom lifts when Nicholas returns, and it appears that love may bloom again. Mother clings as tightly as ever, of course, but Althea has hope once more. Then murder comes to their household, and the young woman’s last chance at happiness is dashed forever — unless Maud Silver, the gentlewoman detective, can save the day.
239 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
357 people are currently reading
522 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 - 30 of 96 reviews
November 7, 2019
As I mentioned a couple of reviews ago, this series has evolved as an indication of the evolution of Patricia Wentworth’s writing skills. The last few novels have broken away from a more linear and themed approach to one that is fuller in all directions.
The characters are more fully developed, too. Not that they weren’t before, but the progress shows in how they are presented. We spend more time with each individual character, seeing life from their point of view and experiencing what they do and observe in a more intimate way.
Interestingly, this has also made it more of a challenge to identify the culprits in these mysteries. Where before the focus centered on us being privy to the dangers involved with certain people and then discovering why they committed the crimes they did, now we see more possible culprits as more people appear to have motives to commit the crimes. The layers are more intricate and deeper.
In this story, there is a big old house, a crabby and demanding mother, a frustrated and guilt-ridden daughter, an old love affair that re-surfaces, and a village full of busy-bodies and well-meaning people. I enjoyed this story so much that I look forward to the next one with great anticipation.
The characters are more fully developed, too. Not that they weren’t before, but the progress shows in how they are presented. We spend more time with each individual character, seeing life from their point of view and experiencing what they do and observe in a more intimate way.
Interestingly, this has also made it more of a challenge to identify the culprits in these mysteries. Where before the focus centered on us being privy to the dangers involved with certain people and then discovering why they committed the crimes they did, now we see more possible culprits as more people appear to have motives to commit the crimes. The layers are more intricate and deeper.
In this story, there is a big old house, a crabby and demanding mother, a frustrated and guilt-ridden daughter, an old love affair that re-surfaces, and a village full of busy-bodies and well-meaning people. I enjoyed this story so much that I look forward to the next one with great anticipation.
July 8, 2014
I am new to the Miss Silver mystery fan club, but I have read several of them in fast succession. Miss Silver mysteries are not great literature- they're not meant to be. They are fun and charming mysteries which can be read in a couple hours. Having read most Agatha Christie books I was thrilled to stumble upon these and found I prefer them because the story and characters feel better developed. I care about the people in the story more. That being said, The Gazebo has been one of my favorites to date of this collection. The narcissistic mother, the dutiful daughter, an old romance, and a mystery surrounding the family home all made this a fun and interesting read.
September 14, 2017
A good standard Miss Silver whodunnit. Wry, amusing observation of a good range of post-war characters, as well as a satisfying puzzle.
The GR blurb:
'Although Althea Graham's hypochondriac mother rarely visited the gazebo on their property, she is found dead there one morning. So Althea and her longtime fiance are finally free to marry. They are also the chief suspects. Fortunately, Miss Silver is a friend of Althea's.'
The GR blurb:
'Although Althea Graham's hypochondriac mother rarely visited the gazebo on their property, she is found dead there one morning. So Althea and her longtime fiance are finally free to marry. They are also the chief suspects. Fortunately, Miss Silver is a friend of Althea's.'
January 6, 2023
re-read in 2020: 3⭐️ Even though the mystery in this is very good, the abusive relationships, this read through, seemed worse (so it lost a star). 2020 feels like a hard year to read 'abuse happening' content. I prefer to listen to Diana Bishop narrating Miss Silver mysteries, as opposed to reading them myself and tried, not very successfully, to skip past 'that' content.
Extra: narcissistic mother, abusive husband (to the max), abusive wife.
2021: 4-5 ⭐️ Late night re-listen. I did skip over portions of domestic abuse that I knew where about to happen. I really like Thea, and Miss Silver in this mystery.
2022: late night relisten.
Extra: narcissistic mother, abusive husband (to the max), abusive wife.
2021: 4-5 ⭐️ Late night re-listen. I did skip over portions of domestic abuse that I knew where about to happen. I really like Thea, and Miss Silver in this mystery.
2022: late night relisten.
March 19, 2020
Mrs. Graham is frail, delicate--and totally selfish. She uses health concerns to dominate her daughter, Althea, and send away Althea's fiancé. Now Nicholas Carey is back after five years away, and he and Althea are still in love. Despite Mrs. Graham's scheming, it looks as though the two will escape her this time, but then Fate plays its final trick. The woman is found murdered, and the police think Nick is the only one with a motive. All this changes when Miss Maud Silver comes to stay with Althea, as she discovers two unsavory characters are trying to buy the Graham house, at wildly inflated prices.
January 26, 2016
The settled lives of a selfish invalid and her dutiful daughter are rocked by several strangers’ sudden interest in buying their comfortable but unremarkable home and the return of an old beau. Unlike many of the Miss Silver books, the romantic interest here is front and center, and the reader roots for the downtrodden daughter’s eventual happiness. Little asides on characters’ behavior show the author was as good at reading characters as her detective is. “Mrs Graham had been moving the date of her marriage back for years. Beyond sixteen she would, unfortunately, not be able to go…”
February 6, 2009
I rarely reread this one. The victim is so deserving of being killed, and it takes so long for it to happen, that it is tough to get through!
March 21, 2024
I've read this old favourite any times, and I regularly revisit it, as I do many of Wentworth's and Christie's books. I highly recommend this book which is a gentle, cosy mystery set in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and which is deeply embedded in the era culturally, stylistically and in terms of manners and social politics, giving the reader a wonderful sense of really being there, watching the story unfold. If some of Wentworth's heroines seem a bit of a weak-willed pushover, we have to cut her some slack for that, there are plenty of feisty ones too. the heroine of this book, is, as always the elderly, dowdy Miss Silver, retired educator now a professional 'enquiry agent', and someone who has incredible insight and compassion into the humans around her.
:) this book sees the completion of: two vests for Little Tina, and the commencement of a cardigan in a pleasing shade of violet for Miss Silver's beloved niece Ethel Burkett.
:) this book sees the completion of: two vests for Little Tina, and the commencement of a cardigan in a pleasing shade of violet for Miss Silver's beloved niece Ethel Burkett.
April 15, 2013
I love Miss Silver books. It's very different from my fantasy side, but she's a sweet little old lady who is really sharp and solves mysteries. The people who die are always making some very nice people miserable, but the nice people aren't the ones who do it. There's usually a happy romantic connection at the end, and it's just a nice, fun read.
May 22, 2014
I so enjoy Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver series of classic British mysteries! I am very excited to see that more of the books will be available in the audio format this coming June! If you enjoy Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, you most likely will equally enjoy Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver :) Narrator Diana Bishop gives a wonderful performance, perfect for the tone of the series. I highly recommend this series for a rainy or snowy day with a nice pot of tea at hand. And maybe some knitting.....
December 15, 2017
Free | Difficult to get through, since Mrs Graham was so truly awful. | There are a few Wentworth murder victims that deserve it so much that you spend the beginning of the book looking forward to their impending demise. There are a bare handful that are such terrible people that you find yourself hoping for a particularly brutal killing. Mrs Graham was one of these latter for me. Pretty obvious solution, before the death even occurred, but not entirely to formula, which was good.
October 17, 2017
Undemanding, fairly enjoyable, reasonable love interest.
August 7, 2019
Also found under the title The Gazebo. Gazebo and summerhouse used interchangeably in the book.
May 26, 2025
Althea Graham’s life in suburbia was a daily grind of attending to the whims of her controlling mother. And then all at once her former fiancé returned, people were trying to buy her house for large sums of money - and someone was lying dead in the old gazebo in the garden…
I think this is one of the best Miss Silvers. For a writer who loves her country house murders, Patricia Wentworth does a brilliant job of evoking life in a post war suburban estate. Althea, trapped in the role of caregiver to a selfish parent who should not really need care, is an engrossing central character as she struggles to break free. Miss Silver does somewhat pull the solution out of the bag with a leap of deduction rather than step by step unravelling of clues, but otherwise this is a domestic novel as much as a detective story and bears rereading.
I think this is one of the best Miss Silvers. For a writer who loves her country house murders, Patricia Wentworth does a brilliant job of evoking life in a post war suburban estate. Althea, trapped in the role of caregiver to a selfish parent who should not really need care, is an engrossing central character as she struggles to break free. Miss Silver does somewhat pull the solution out of the bag with a leap of deduction rather than step by step unravelling of clues, but otherwise this is a domestic novel as much as a detective story and bears rereading.
September 24, 2024
Another great Patricia Wentworth mystery
Recommended for all enjoying UK mystery authors such as Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie Christie. The detective Miss Silver competes easily with the more well known Miss Marple but on a less affluent social strata.
This novel only has one body but makes IP with a bigger cast of suspicious characters. A most intriguing plot and a satisfying ending up with the right villain caught in the act.
Recommended for all enjoying UK mystery authors such as Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie Christie. The detective Miss Silver competes easily with the more well known Miss Marple but on a less affluent social strata.
This novel only has one body but makes IP with a bigger cast of suspicious characters. A most intriguing plot and a satisfying ending up with the right villain caught in the act.
August 21, 2024
4/5 stars!
My review here:
https://goldenageofdetectivefiction.c...
My review here:
https://goldenageofdetectivefiction.c...
August 26, 2024
4.5 stars
November 22, 2024
The culprit was revealed too soon, else it seemed a good cozy/Golden Age mystery.
December 20, 2024
Miss Silver to the rescue.
Wonderful little mystery. Loved the authors writing. Truly a good mystery, keeps you wondering how it will all come out.
Wonderful little mystery. Loved the authors writing. Truly a good mystery, keeps you wondering how it will all come out.
August 9, 2025
A bit tedious in parts, but another mystery solved!
September 21, 2025
Another satisfying mystery
More investigative fun with Miss Silver and Frank Abbott. This has a clear plot and a steady flow.
More investigative fun with Miss Silver and Frank Abbott. This has a clear plot and a steady flow.
October 15, 2025
One of the weaker Miss Silver's.
It features dowsing - like quicksand - no longer in vogue.
It features dowsing - like quicksand - no longer in vogue.
September 28, 2023
I think this is one of Wentworth's best, and it definitely retains a solid 5 stars on rereading. However, if you are looking for a 'whodunnit' that keeps you guessing up to the last page, this is not the book for you. The murder victim is mentioned in the blurb on the back cover, but even if she wasn't, it would be obvious, as she is the kind of character you love to hate. The pool of suspects is extremely limited, and the motive is also obvious. So it doesn't get those five stars for the complexity of the plot! Why do I rate it so highly then?
One of the things I love about this book is the way in which Wentworth tackles difficult relationships. In addition to the murder victim, Mrs Graham, who is abusive and controlling toward her daughter, we have two abusive marriages. Many novels of the era include female characters who are victims of abuse, but it is much more unusual to find a portrayal of an abused husband, and what is yet more unusual is that he is portrayed so sympathetically instead of being blamed for 'allowing it'. I also appreciated the way Wentworth is not afraid to make Mrs Graham a really horrible and self-centred person who has no love at all toward her daughter - there is so much sugary sentiment over mother-daughter relationships that it is refreshing to encounter a writer who isn't afraid to point out that sometimes, a mother can be incredibly destructive and harmful toward her children.
I also really liked the main couple, Nicholas Carey and Althea Graham. Very unusually for Wentworth, they have known each other since their schooldays and gradually moved from friendship to love. They are both strong characters, and I like the way in which Nicholas respects Althea as an equal instead of ordering her around as so many of Wentworth's so-called heroes do.
We also see a lot of Wentworth's mischievous sense of humour in this book. Mrs Graham, who is constantly hoping to be taken for much younger than she is, "had been moving the date of her marriage back for years. Beyond sixteen she was unfortunately not able to go, and the trouble was that Althea looked her age and more." At one point, she shows uncharacteristic and surprising concern toward Althea, encouraging her to spend some money on improving her appearance. But we soon find out that it is because "no one is going to believe you are under forty yourself if you have a daughter who might be thirty-five."!!!
When Frank, referring to Miss Silver's endless knitting comments "what a lot of dressing up the human young require" Miss Silver, eyeing Frank's own elaborate and expensive outfit comments "Not , I think, only the very young, my dear Frank."
We have some amusing minor characters too, including the three Misses Pimm, who live to gather and broadcast gossip, and who are busy trying to work out a way of finding out more about the murder when Miss Silver visits them, "It would perhaps be unkind to compare Mabel's feelings with those of a wolf who, having laid elaborate plans to attack the sheepfold is gratified by the voluntary approach of one of its choicer lambs..."
The Gazebo shows just how good Wentworth can be when she really tries. I'll definitely be reading this one again.
One of the things I love about this book is the way in which Wentworth tackles difficult relationships. In addition to the murder victim, Mrs Graham, who is abusive and controlling toward her daughter, we have two abusive marriages. Many novels of the era include female characters who are victims of abuse, but it is much more unusual to find a portrayal of an abused husband, and what is yet more unusual is that he is portrayed so sympathetically instead of being blamed for 'allowing it'. I also appreciated the way Wentworth is not afraid to make Mrs Graham a really horrible and self-centred person who has no love at all toward her daughter - there is so much sugary sentiment over mother-daughter relationships that it is refreshing to encounter a writer who isn't afraid to point out that sometimes, a mother can be incredibly destructive and harmful toward her children.
I also really liked the main couple, Nicholas Carey and Althea Graham. Very unusually for Wentworth, they have known each other since their schooldays and gradually moved from friendship to love. They are both strong characters, and I like the way in which Nicholas respects Althea as an equal instead of ordering her around as so many of Wentworth's so-called heroes do.
We also see a lot of Wentworth's mischievous sense of humour in this book. Mrs Graham, who is constantly hoping to be taken for much younger than she is, "had been moving the date of her marriage back for years. Beyond sixteen she was unfortunately not able to go, and the trouble was that Althea looked her age and more." At one point, she shows uncharacteristic and surprising concern toward Althea, encouraging her to spend some money on improving her appearance. But we soon find out that it is because "no one is going to believe you are under forty yourself if you have a daughter who might be thirty-five."!!!
When Frank, referring to Miss Silver's endless knitting comments "what a lot of dressing up the human young require" Miss Silver, eyeing Frank's own elaborate and expensive outfit comments "Not , I think, only the very young, my dear Frank."
We have some amusing minor characters too, including the three Misses Pimm, who live to gather and broadcast gossip, and who are busy trying to work out a way of finding out more about the murder when Miss Silver visits them, "It would perhaps be unkind to compare Mabel's feelings with those of a wolf who, having laid elaborate plans to attack the sheepfold is gratified by the voluntary approach of one of its choicer lambs..."
The Gazebo shows just how good Wentworth can be when she really tries. I'll definitely be reading this one again.
July 17, 2024
This is the third Miss Silver mystery i've read. I'm not sure if it's the best, but it's better than The Case of William Smith.
Like The Chinese Shawl, the murder victim is convincingly unpleasant enough that you won't be shedding any tears for her. But while the murder itself is gotten to more quickly than in the other book, i wasn't any more impressed with the 'threat' the investigation posed to the main couple: i felt it was plausible that Nicky could be arrested, charged, and possibly even found guilty, but it would have felt like a plain miscarriage of justice, not a case where a genuine mistake was made. It didn't feel like all that much effort was put into solving the murder, either, with other side matters taking up the focus. It worked out all right, i suppose, but it didn't really feel like a murder mystery.
Still, my overall impression of Patricia Wentworth as a writer is much higher than my opinion of Margery Allingham or Ngaio Marsh, and i'm willing to give more of her books a shot -- provided my library's county catalogue has some promising titles.
Like The Chinese Shawl, the murder victim is convincingly unpleasant enough that you won't be shedding any tears for her. But while the murder itself is gotten to more quickly than in the other book, i wasn't any more impressed with the 'threat' the investigation posed to the main couple: i felt it was plausible that Nicky could be arrested, charged, and possibly even found guilty, but it would have felt like a plain miscarriage of justice, not a case where a genuine mistake was made. It didn't feel like all that much effort was put into solving the murder, either, with other side matters taking up the focus. It worked out all right, i suppose, but it didn't really feel like a murder mystery.
Still, my overall impression of Patricia Wentworth as a writer is much higher than my opinion of Margery Allingham or Ngaio Marsh, and i'm willing to give more of her books a shot -- provided my library's county catalogue has some promising titles.
January 31, 2021
...The gloves are off and the sword is out of the scabbard, and any other nice mixed metaphors you can think of. In other words, we’re going to have the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Your mother started trying to separate us seven years ago. She made you believe that she had only a short time to live, and that it was your duty to stay with her. After this had gone on for two years there was a final blow-up. I’d been worn down to the point of saying we would live at Grove Hill and I’d go up and down to my job on the Janitor. Right at the end I lost my head to the extent of suggesting we should take over the top floor of the house. I must have been crazy, but she wouldn’t even have that. She threw a heart attack, and Barrington said she might die if she went on agitating herself about your getting married. Of course what he ought to have done was to tell us to get on with it and confront her with a fait accompli. She was, and is, much too fond of herself to take any serious risks once she knew the game was up.’
‘She won’t ever let me go.’
His grasp tightened until it hurt. He said in a vicious undertone,‘She isn’t going to be asked. Five years ago I was a boy and a fool. This time it’s going to be different. She can like it, or she can lump it. If she wants to destroy herself she can. I’m going to get you away if I’ve got to smash her and everything else in sight.’
‘She won’t ever let me go.’
His grasp tightened until it hurt. He said in a vicious undertone,‘She isn’t going to be asked. Five years ago I was a boy and a fool. This time it’s going to be different. She can like it, or she can lump it. If she wants to destroy herself she can. I’m going to get you away if I’ve got to smash her and everything else in sight.’
August 20, 2020
In this 27th installment in the series, the villain is one that Wentworth likes to return to, and which I particularly enjoy: the demanding, self-focused older woman, playing the invalid, guilting the heroine into giving up her life and future to wait on her when it is obvious she has no care or concern for the heroine. Another element that the author relies on in many of these novels and which she does well is embedded here as well: local gossips both causing damage by misconstruing what happened as the story spreads, but also having some valuable clues which Miss Silver alone seems able to track down, nodding sagely as she knits away while they chatter on.
The murder here occurs in a sunmmer house in the back garden, referred to as a gazebo by the English, though when I hear the word gazebo I think of where a bamd might play in a town square.
After 27 books some elements such as these are bound to recur, and reworked and repackaged, that can be okay. However, I do wish a rather specific murder attempt hadn't been used here, completely copying one I recall from an earlier volume, even with the relatively same outcome for the victim involved. Tsk tsk Miss Wentworth, as governess, Miss Silver would not have allowed for such repetition to have been demonstrated in an essay written in her nursery classroom.
The murder here occurs in a sunmmer house in the back garden, referred to as a gazebo by the English, though when I hear the word gazebo I think of where a bamd might play in a town square.
After 27 books some elements such as these are bound to recur, and reworked and repackaged, that can be okay. However, I do wish a rather specific murder attempt hadn't been used here, completely copying one I recall from an earlier volume, even with the relatively same outcome for the victim involved. Tsk tsk Miss Wentworth, as governess, Miss Silver would not have allowed for such repetition to have been demonstrated in an essay written in her nursery classroom.
Read
August 31, 2009My first Miss Silvery mystery. I found it at the library for $1.00 and was in the mood for a cozy British mystery but I quickly realized why this is not one of the more popular in the series. The romance is of the very old fashioned kind that can be entertaining but seems... very distant, somehow. It reminded me of the less-stellar entries in the Emilie Loring novels from the '50s. The mystery is plodding--the murder doesn't even take place until about 1/3 of the way through the book and the next several chapters are just totally redundant, IMO, with characters telling the Scotland Yard inspector exactly the same material we already know from reading the previous chapters! So, I've stopped before page 100. I'll give Wentworth and Miss Silver another chance with one of the better rated mysteries in the series. Meanwhile, I turn to the Queen of Crime for They Came to Baghdad
September 23, 2020
Once again in a Wentworth novel we have a narcissistic woman ruining the lives of others. They are a specialty of this author in her Miss Silver series. Normally they do the killing, but as the book's description says, this one gets killed. Book descriptions say too much, and this one spoils things, since the murder doesn't happen until a third of the way in.
We have the abused wife again, and an abused husband this time. We get lots of details about 1950s Britain, which are always interesting. Long internal dialogs and descriptions slow the story somewhat, but Wentworth does the omniscient narration well, with subtle humor.
There is a shift in location in this book, from the usual country house manor and village to a suburb that was built over a country house manor, estate, and village. The romance is there as well, and I found myself rooting for these two. There was some repetition of events and phrases from previous books, as has happened in the last few in the series, but I enjoyed this one, even if I did skim some parts.
We have the abused wife again, and an abused husband this time. We get lots of details about 1950s Britain, which are always interesting. Long internal dialogs and descriptions slow the story somewhat, but Wentworth does the omniscient narration well, with subtle humor.
There is a shift in location in this book, from the usual country house manor and village to a suburb that was built over a country house manor, estate, and village. The romance is there as well, and I found myself rooting for these two. There was some repetition of events and phrases from previous books, as has happened in the last few in the series, but I enjoyed this one, even if I did skim some parts.
July 5, 2021
I don't know if it's a good thing or not when the victim happens to be a character you're delighted to see murdered, but that's the case in Miss Silver's newest mystery The Gazebo. Althea Graham's mother is a hypochondriac, but more annoyingly, she's a controlling, manipulative, mean-spirited, selfish, jealous woman who wants to run Althea's life and fortune. When she ends up murdered in the gazebo, Althea becomes the prime suspect - with good reason if anyone happened to know her mother. However, Miss Silver is convinced Althea is innocent. She suspects Althea might become the next victim if the truth isn't rooted out.
Miss Silver comes to Althea's aid, as well as her fiance's, and begins to investigate in the name of justice. However, the reason for Mrs. Graham's death is more complicated than they realized. Before long, Miss Silver has two new suspects and seeks to find answers regarding the possibility of buried treasure. This was another incredible story, and I loved it! I highly recommend it to anyone who loves mysteries, beloved detectives, and is a fan of Agatha Christie.
Miss Silver comes to Althea's aid, as well as her fiance's, and begins to investigate in the name of justice. However, the reason for Mrs. Graham's death is more complicated than they realized. Before long, Miss Silver has two new suspects and seeks to find answers regarding the possibility of buried treasure. This was another incredible story, and I loved it! I highly recommend it to anyone who loves mysteries, beloved detectives, and is a fan of Agatha Christie.
March 8, 2022
The death of a selfish hypochondriac was the result of her own suspicions that her daughter's assignation with her old fiancé at the gazebo was resumed after she previously broke it up by over~acting her usual heart spasms when she found them talking. So she went back to the gazebo and interrupted somebody looking for something... thus, she was killed because she could identify her murderer. Eight years ago, her selfishness was manifested when she pleaded for her daughter not to leave her on her last years on earth. She was aided and abetted by her doctor who was in love with her... and her few years extended to eight. No plausible solution suggested by the daughter's fiancé was acceptable and so the young lovers broke their engagement and the young man left England... the daughter became her drudge... while the widow with a weak heart enjoyed a life of leisure at her daughter's expense... until the fiancé returned older, stronger minded and wiser. The problem was that he was the prime suspect for his would be mother~in~law's murder.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews