14 April 2016

Review: THE TRAVELLER RETURNS, Patricia Wentworth

  • alternative title: SHE CAME BACK
  • first published 1945 (US publication)
  • #9 in the Miss Silver series
  • this edition from Amazon (Kindle)
  • File Size: 655 KB
  • Print Length: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton; New Ed edition (December 13, 2007)
  • Publication Date: December 13, 2007
  • Sold by: Hachette Book Group
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0043VDC8E
Synopsis (Amazon)

Anne Jocelyn had been a beautiful, wealthy young woman. She had died three years ago. At least, that was what her husband Philip and the rest of the family had always thought. But then a woman calling herself Anne Jocelyn appeared and managed to convince everyone that she was the real Anne. Everyone, that is, except Miss Silver, whose suspicions are aroused by an apparently senseless murder.

My Take

I chose this for my participation in the Crime Fiction of the Year challenge for 1945 found over at Past Offences.  There is a little conflicting evidence about the date of publication so I have gone with the date on Fantastic Fiction. It seems that it was published in 1945 in USA, but not till 1948 in UK

The setting is England 1943. As far as Philip Jocelyn was concerned his wife Anne had been killed in France by a German bullet in 1940 and her body was buried in the local churchyard at Jocelyn's Holt. So when a woman claiming to be Anne turns up at the house at Jocelyn's Holt he can't believe it is her. The rest of the family are taken in by her stunning resemblance to Anne and to her detailed knowledge of the family. But if this woman is impersonating his wife, why is she doing it?

Miss Silver meets a woman on a train who is travelling to London to meet Lady Jocelyn.  She says she will know whether this is truly Anne Jocelyn or not. And then she is found dead.

While the police sergeant is a fan of Maudie Silver's, his boss doesn't come out of it too well as he is always ready to accept the easy solution to a problem. He sees Miss Silver as an interefering old biddy, always turning up where she is not really needed. Of course it is Miss Silver who eventually solves the case. 

 A nice cosy read.

My Rating: 4.3

I've also read
4.1, GREY MASK

3 comments:

Ryan said...

I love Miss Silver, but haven't read this one yet.

Claudia said...

Wentworth is one of the mystery authors I really enjoy, a shame our library doesn't carry many of her books or are letting them lapse and fall by the wayside.

Clothes In Books said...

I can't read them one after another, too same-y, but do enjoy a Wentworth now and then. This sounds like a good one.

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