Status Updates From The Miss Silver Mysteries V...

Well, Grey Mask was disappointing. Multiple plot-essential coincidences, three Convenient Eavesdrops, villain both discovered and foiled without direct input from Miss Silver (though she was some use), and obvious cribbing from earlier writers. If The Case is Closed doesn't markedly improve on the first book, I'm out.

Margot may be the silliest young woman in English literature. Which is quite a record.

This is reminding me very much of The Black Star (1910). Criminal conspiracy, led by a masked figure, ordinary people manipulated into being part of it, known by numbers.

This is one of those books which convey the impression that London is a small village with a population of about two dozen people, based on how frequently the characters cross paths by pure random chance. And we've already had two Convenient Eavesdrops. Otherwise, it's well written, but those are two of my least favorite things.