Prompt – ‘A book set in the 1920s’ – despite the cover, it definitely is!
Medium – Book
About the book – Written by Patricia Wentworth in 1928, this is the first in the Miss Silver set of mysteries, a fairly close replica of the Miss Marple books by Agatha Christie. Charles Moray returns from abroad after a broken engagement a number of years ago, to find a criminal organisation using his house as a meeting-place. To his shock, he finds his ex-fiancee, Margaret, an agent of the organisation and hears a plot concerning the murder of a young woman called Margot. Set in London, there is plenty of 1920s nostalgia and some interesting characters.
My rating – 3/10. The length of time it took me to read this probably tells you something about what I felt about this book! There were a few things that I found quite difficult in the book, although it is also worth mentioning that I am in the middle of a house move, the end of a course and a busy time at work, so that did contribute to how long reading took as well – so it isn’t ALL the book’s fault.
One problem I had with it was the lack of the detective in the book. I think she appears in about 30 pages of the book and seems to breeze in and out with useful information before disappearing. It seemed a waste of a character who is so integral to the book and who is named on the front cover! Another issue I had was the storyline – it was quite convoluted, with lots of people with the same sort of name – Margaret, Margot, Margaret again… The similar naming didn’t really play any part in the story in the end, so I felt more individual characters could have been useful. Another issue I had with it was that one of the female characters was desperately irritating. Although the book is a product of its time, the infantilising of ‘Margot’ in comparison to the good sense and intelligence of ‘Margaret’ and Miss Silver was annoying, and I confess to skipping over parts of the story with her in.
Would I read it again? No. Whilst I LOVE vintage crime, I found the storyline boring and convoluted and didn’t like many of the characters. I might read another of the Miss Silver stories, just to see if it is any different.
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