1943 mystery/thriller, fifth in the Miss Silver series. Laura Fane
is newly of age, and in London to take charge of her inheritance. She
meets a smashing young man, and all seems promising; but her distant
cousin and social butterfly Tanis Lyle seems to regard the chap as
her property. Oh, and there will be a murder.
The emphasis certainly shifts from the social dance to the
investigation, and that works well, but I do slightly regret that
Laura, who was showing some signs of gumption, didn't get to complete
her triumph over Tanis—who is, inevitably, the first victim. After
all, she seems determined to keep every man in the place on her
string, and sooner or later that's bound to come back to burn her…
But it's all a little more complicated than that, because Tanis has
spent all her life at the Priory, which Laura now owns; Laura's father
ran off with her mother, rather than marry cousin Agnes, who has been
nursing the grudge ever since (from the wheelchair she's needed since
riding into the old quarry in a fit of temper). Now it seems Agnes
wants to buy the Priory, and hand it down to Tanis; and while Laura
doesn't especially want the big old house she's never seen, she also
doesn't like being hastened into the decision.
(The chair is "one of those self-propelling chairs", but I rather
think this means that Agnes moves it herself rather than needing
someone to push her; the hypothetical motor is never mentioned, and
while there were some small powered invalid carriages the first
motorised wheelchair didn't go into production until after the war.)
There's a cast of people variously under Tanis's spell, getting free
of her, or unimpressed by her, and Miss Silver rather more forward in
the story than often before; rather than just lurking in the
background and giving a word of advice here and there, she's been
employed by Miss Agnes in her capacity as private detective to solve
another matter, which puts her on the scene when the murder happens.
“I am not a fool. I make no reservations. The murderer is to be
discovered. Do you accept?”
Miss Silver inclined her head.
“On those terms—yes.”
Agnes Fane relaxed slightly. That same ironic smile just touched her
lips.
“If it is Perry, I shall have to find a new maid. It would be
incredibly tiresome.”
“Agnes!” Miss Silver permitted herself a shade of reproof.
“And if it is I,” said Agnes Fane, still smiling, “then Perry will
have to find herself a new mistress, which will be almost equally
tiresome for her.”
While the basic pattern remains apparent (there must be a nice young
girl who ends up happily married) I'm still having fun with the
variations Wentworth can find within the formula.
This book is freely available in Canada from Faded Page.