Patricia Wentworth

(1877 – 1961)

Biographical Sketch

Patricia Wentworth (born Dora Amy Elles; Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India, November 10, 1877 – Camberley, Surrey, UK, January 28, 1961) was a British crime fiction writer.

Wentworth began as a writer of historical and romance novels, but is best known for a series of 32 mysteries in the classic whodunit style, featuring Miss Maud Silver, a retired governess and teacher who has become a professional private detective in London. Miss Silver works closely with Scotland Yard, especially with Inspectors Randal March, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott, and she is fond of quoting Tennyson. She is sometimes compared to Miss Jane Marple, the elderly detective created by Agatha Christie.

“Miss Silver is well known in the better circles of society, and she finds entree to the troubled households of the upper classes with little difficulty. In most of Miss Silver’s cases there is a young couple whose romance seems ill fated because of the murder to be solved, but in Miss Silver’s competent hands the case is solved, the young couple are exonerated, and all is right in this very traditional world.”
(Jean Swanson and Dean James: Killer Books: A Reader’s Guide to Exploring the Popular World of Mystery and Suspense; New York, 1998)

Wentworth also wrote 34 books outside of that series. She won the Melrose prize in 1910 for her first novel A Marriage Under The Terror, set during the French Revolution.

Major Awards and Honors

Melrose Prize

1910: “A Marriarge under the Terror” (1910)

Bibliography

The Miss Silver Mysteries

Grey Mask (1928)
The Case Is Closed (1937)
Lonesome Road (1939)
Danger Point (1941)
AKA: In the Balance
– Miss Silver and Randal March.
The Chinese Shawl (1943)
– Miss Silver and Randal March.
Miss Silver Intervenes (1943)
AKA: Miss Silver Deals with Death
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
The Clock Strikes Twelve (1944)
The Key (1944)
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
The Traveller Returns (1945)
AKA: She Came Back
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
Pilgrim’s Rest (1946)
AKA: Dark Threat
– Miss Silver, Randal March and Frank Abbott.
Latter End (1947)
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
Spotlight (1947)
AKA: Wicked Uncle
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
The Case of William Smith (1948)
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
Eternity Ring (1948)
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
The Catherine-Wheel (1949)
– Miss Silver, Randal March, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
Miss Silver Comes to Stay (1949)
– Miss Silver and Randal March.
The Brading Collection (1950)
– Miss Silver and Randal March.
AKA: Mr. Brading’s Collection
Through the Wall (1950)
– Miss Silver and Randal March.
The Ivory Dagger (1951)
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
Anna, Where Are You? (1951)
AKA: Death at Deep End
– Miss Silver and Frank Abbott.
The Watersplash (1951)
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
Ladies’ Bane (1952)
– Miss Silver and Frank Abbott.
Out of the Past (1953)
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
Vanishing Point (1953)
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
The Benevent Treasure (1953)
The Silent Pool (1954)
– Miss Silver and Randal March.
The Listening Eye (1955)
– Miss Silver, Ernest Lamb and Frank Abbott.
Poison in the Pen (1955)
– Miss Silver, Randal March and Frank Abbott.
The Gazebo (1956)
AKA: The Summerhouse
– Miss Silver and Frank Abbott.
The Fingerprint (1956)
– Miss Silver and Frank Abbott.
The Alington Inheritance (1958)
– Miss Silver and Frank Abbott.
The Girl in the Cellar (1961)
– Miss Silver and Frank Abbott.

Frank Garrett Mysteries

Dead or Alive (1936)
Rolling Stone (1940)

Ernest Lamb & Frank Abbott mysteries

The Blind Side (1939)
Who Pays the Piper? (1940)
AKA: Account Rendered
Pursuit of a Parcel (1942)
– Ernest Lamb, Frank Abbott and Frank Garrett.

Benbow Smith Mysteries

Fool Errant (1929)
Danger Calling (1931)
– Benbow Smith and Frank Garrett.
Walk with Care (1933)
– Benbow Smith and Frank Garrett.
Down Under (1937)

Nonseries Mysteries

The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith (1923)
The Red Lacquer Case (1924)
The Annam Jewel (1924)
The Black Cabinet (1925)
The Dower House Mystery (1925)
The Amazing Chance (1926)
Hue and Cry (1927)
Anne Belinda (1927)
Will-o’-the-Wisp (1928)
The Coldstone (1930)
Beggar’s Choice (1930)
Kingdom Lost (1931)
Nothing Venture (1932)
Red Danger (1932)
AKA: Red Shadow
Seven Green Stones (1933)
AKA: Outrageous Fortune
Devil-in-the-Dark (1934)
AKA: Touch and Go
Fear by Night (1934)
Red Stefan (1935)
Blindfold (1935)
Hole and Corner (1936)
Mr Zero (1938)
Run! (1938)
Unlawful Occasions (1941)
AKA: Weekend With Death
Silence in Court (1947)

Other Nonseries Fiction

A Marriage under the Terror (1910)
A Little More Than Kin (1911)
AKA: More Than Kin
The Devil’s Wind (1912)
The Fire Within (1913)
Simon Heriot (1914)
Queen Anne Is Dead (1915)
Earl or Chieftain? (1919)
Beneath the Hunter’s Moon (1945)

Poetry

A Child’s Rhyme Book (1910)
The Pool of Dreams (1953)

Online editions of Patricia Wentworth’s works:

A Selection of Quotes

Grey Mask

“Miss Silver tapped with her pencil.
‘Are you suggesting that we should apply for a search warrant?’
‘No, I’m not. I’m suggestin’ doin’ a little job of breakin’ and enterin’. Look here, Miss Silver, are you game? […]’
‘I’ve my reputation to consider,’ said Miss Silver. She coughed. ‘If I were walking along George Street and were to ring [that house’s] bell –‘ she paused and gazed at him mildly. ‘If you opened the door to me, it really would not be any business of mine how you got in.'”

“Miss Silver turned her torch down, picked up a metal bar, and put it into Archie’s hand.
‘What is it?’
‘Well,’ said Miss Silver — she gave a slight cough — ‘I believe it is called a jemmy — an instrument in use amongst burglars. I, of course, have my reputation to consider. But if you –‘ She coughed again. ‘It really seems quite providential — doesn’t it?’
‘Heaven helps those who help themselves, in fact,’ responded Archie.
Miss Silver proceeded to give him expert advice as to lock-breaking.”

Find more quotes by Patricia Wentworth on Goodreads.

Links

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