5 May 2020

Review: THE CASE IS CLOSED, Patricia Wentworth

  • format: Kindle (Amazon)
  • File Size: 583 KB
  • Print Length: 340 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton; New Ed edition (September 12, 2005)
  • Publication Date: September 12, 2005
  • originally published in 1937
  • Sold by: Hachette Book Group
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0043VDC20
  • #2 of the Miss Silver mysteries
Synopsis (Amazon)

The Everton murder case has long been closed. The culprit has been charged with the murder of his uncle and has served a year of his sentence already. Or has he?

The evidence against Geoffrey Grey is convincing but his wife believes in his innocence. And so does her young cousin, Hilary, who decides to solve the mystery herself.

But when Hilary herself is nearly murdered she turns in desperation to her ex-fiance for help. He calls upon the services of Miss Silver to help solve another mystery, which she does in her own original style..

My take

The first Miss Silver mystery GREY MASK was published 1928. It was nearly 9 years until the second in the series appeared. In the meantime Patricia Wentworth had published 4 novels with an elderly male sleuth Benbow Smith as well as a large number of stand-alone novels. Wentworth born in 1878, was about 50 by the time Miss Silver made her first appearance and she had been publishing novels since 1910.

Miss Silver takes a while to appear in THE CASE IS CLOSED (she is consulted about one third into the story), and she comes in as the result of a recommendation by Charles Moray who was her client in GREY MASK.

Hilary Carew, Marion Grey's cousin, is a rather quirky character in her own right, but she is central to the story as she refuses to believe that Geoffrey Grey is guilty of murder. She is impulsive, wont to act rashly, without back up, but she can't understand what it can be that Marion Grey is not telling her.

This was a good read, more assured writing than in GREY MASK.

I bought a Kindle edition which contains the first 3 Miss Silver titles - so I have LONESOME ROAD (#3) to go

My rating: 4.4

I've also read

4.4, THE TRAVELLER'S RETURN
4.2, WEEKEND WITH DEATH
4.1, GREY MASK

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