“Miss Silver Comes to Stay” by Patricia Wentworth

Miss Silver is looking forward to a bit of rest at her schoolmate’s house in a small and charming English village. But Miss Silver wouldn’t be Miss Silver if she didn’t get herself involved in the investigation of a shocking and brutal murder at once filling the whole village with gossip.

This is the second book by Patricia Wentworth I’m reviewing. It’s just as sweet as the other one with a few love stories and a couple of engagements to make it even nicer. And it’s one of those detective stories in which I was able to guess the murderer’s name a little too early. I don’t remember anymore how I did it – it’s been a while since I read the book for the first time – but it wasn’t due to anything the author knowingly did. I think she just failed to hide the clues well enough.

I like the book though. There are a few very nice people in it, and a happy end – so what else would you need? I like Miss Silver very much, and I immediately fell for Rietta Cray – the chief suspect Miss Silver undertakes to save from the accusation. In the process of doing so she also saves a few other innocent people (there are more than enough people around with strong motives to kill James Lessiter – the deceased was extremely good at making enemies).

Miss Silver seems to reconstruct facts very easily from a few pieces of idle gossip (apparently irrelevant), a couple of hints dropped in her presence and, most importantly, the way people behave when she asks them awkward questions. They don’t have to say anything: an ex-governess, Miss Silver seems to know people inside out and reads all the necessary answers from their embarrassed faces. I wish I could do something similar.

And her knitting (she always knits) adds to the comforting effect of Patricia Wentworth’s books. Even her murders are weirdly cosy, and she takes care not to murder anyone the reader might have fallen for.

They are very English books.