Miss Silver Intervenes

 

by Patricia Wentworth ( read by Diana Bishop) c. 1943

Miss Silver, Book 6

 

Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 05-06-14

Language: English

Publisher: Audible Studios

ASIN: B00J7XR02W

Publisher's Summary

When her fiancé, Giles Armitage, is lost at sea in the middle of the Second World War, Meade Underwood is left in the company of a middle-aged aunt with nothing but a monotonous round of bridge parties and war work to fill her days. A chance encounter restores Giles to Meade but he has lost his memory, and their rediscovered happiness is threatened by the machinations of the scheming Carola Roland, a figure from Giles' forgotten past. So when Carola is viciously murdered, Giles becomes the chief suspect and it takes all Miss Silver's ingenuity to unravel the real significance of the crime and its electrifying consequences.

Except for those damned clacking knitting needles, she is growing on me

I have to thank the Agatha Christie Centenary Celebration read (aka Appointment with Agatha) for introducing me to Patricia Wentworth. I read The Key back in April and enjoyed it (in spite of the knitting needles), so when I needed another title in a recent 2 for 1 sale and Miss Silver was on the list, I grabbed it.

I enjoyed this story. I like the way Wentworth unwinds the story -- no melodrama, no stupid characters doing stupid things when we already know what is going to happen when she meets the killer at midnight.  I like Miss Silver's  working relationship with the Inspector Abbott and the way he respects her and treat her as an almost equal -- not equal only because she is a civilian, not because she is a woman. Abbot actually looks forward to the collaboration. He respects her intellect and her ability to get information he hasn't, because she brings another point of view to the table. I like it very much.

Not quite four stars.

The Nine Tailors

 

by Dorothy L. Sayers (read by Ian Carmichael)

Library Loan

At last I was able to get my hands on this book

 

Oh, my goodness, did I enjoy this book. All twists and turns.  It was so good and so enjoyable that I don't want to say anything about the plot because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. The narrator was wonderful -- especially when he had to read the bell by bell ringing of the "Nine Tailors" -- yes, the Nine Tailors are the 9 bells in the church tower -- and major players in this tale.

The Nine Tailors was the March, 2021 side-read for the Christie Centenary read which I have been doing with a group of friends from the old BookLikes website (now convened on GoodReads). It wasn't available on Audible but when I finally joined the library, I was able to borrow it.

Definite a four star read. I really wish that I had more access to Dorothy L. Sayer titles on audio.

Halloween Bingo: Genre: Mystery,  Amateur Sleuth,  Vintage Mysteries,  Cozy Mystery, Murder Most Foul, 

Colour Scheme

 

by Ngaio Marsh (read by Nadia May)

Book 12: Roderick Alleyn

Audible Plus Catalog

 

 

Spies and murders

I am definitely running out of things to say about Ngaio Marsh, but since I like her books, I expect that there are going to be a lot more short and sweet blog entries just cataloging the fact that I have read the book.

During World War II, Inspector Alleyn is in New Zealand ferreting out enemy spies when he gets sucked into the murder investigation of one of these possible agents.  The setting of the book at a run-down hotel at a hot spring in northern New Zealand is charming -- that is, if anything about a murder mystery should ever be considered charming. 

Three and a half stars

Queens Full

by Ellery Queen (read by Traber Burns)

Audible Plus Catalog

 

 

Necessary roughage

As always another solidly three star read from the pen of the Ellery Queen writing duo. The books contains three novelettes and two short stories, thus the pun of the title -- and the lingering question: when does a 'short story' become a 'novelet'.

 

Maigret's Holiday

 

Les Vacances de Maigret (c. 1948)

by Georges Simenon  (read by Gareth Armstrong)

Book # 28 in the series

An "Agatha Christie Centenary Celebration" Side Read

 

What happens when a workaholic goes on vacation

When Mme. Maigret ends up in hospital with an appendicitis just two days into their vacation, Inspector Maigret has too much time on his hands. That is until one of the nun's in the hospital slips him a note telling him to check out the patient in Room 15. When the patient dies,  Maigret investigates and the killer is caught.

Three and half stars -- well written and well translated

The Siamese Twin Mystery

 

by Ellery Queen (read by Fred Sullivan)

An Ellery Queen mystery

Necessary roughage

The Queens, pere et fils, are returning from a vacation when a forest fire side-tracks them and traps them with a bunch of loonies -- one of whom is a murder. Well done for an Ellery Queen story. Creepy, too.

The downside, unfortunately, of this edition is the narrator. Whoever reads this book needs to have the overtones of a New Yorker, not of a TV announcer. This book is about two New Yorkers, it needs to sound New York. I blame it on the editors, not the narrator; they chose the wrong voice to begin with.

Three stars

Busman's Honeymoon

 

By Dorothy L. Sayer (read by Ian Carmichael)

What a delightful hoot!

At first I thought I was in epistolary hell. The book opens with a series of letters from varying personages discussing the recent marriage of Miss Harriet Vane to Lord Peter Wimsey. The letters were wickedly catty but I was so afraid that it was going to be the format for the entire book. I was relieved when she switch to straight narrative and got on with the detecting.

I'm not going to say anything about the story itself. I don't want to spoil anything for anybody.

Not quite four stars.

ACCC: March, 2021

 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd  (c. 1926)

 

Theme: English village murder

Side-read: Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers (March, 2021)

*The Key by Patricia Wentworth (April, 2021)

This month's run-off poll ended in a tie.

Non-winners:

*Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh

*Lake District Murder by John Bude

*Hand in Glove by Ngaio Marsh

*The Floating Admiral  by the Detection Club

*Cover Her Face by P.D. James

*Fallen Into the Pit  by Ellis Peters

Main read: https://peregrinationsbooksand.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-murder-of-roger-ackroyd.html

Side read: no audio version so I'm not reading it; really disappointed because everyone has been so positive about the book

In lieu of the side read: Who Killed Roger Ackroyd by Pierre Bayard. https://peregrinationsbooksand.blogspot.com/2021/03/who-killed-roger-ackroyd.html

Other links of interest:

Pierre Bayard reference this list of rules for writing detective stories: http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/triv288.html

The Detection Club Rules: https://murder-mayhem.com/the-detection-club-rules

ACCC: February, 2021

 

The Secret of Chimneys (read by Hugh Fraser, published 1925 )

 

 

 

As of the middle of January, our group has a new name: Appointment with Agatha.

Theme: Political mystery/murder

Side-read: The Third Man by Graham Greene (available on Audible US only as dramatizations)

Non-winners: The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson

Below the Clock by J.V. Turner

Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout

Call for the Dead by John LeCarre

Main read: https://peregrinationsbooksand.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-secret-of-chimneys.html

Side read:  https://peregrinationsbooksand.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-third-man.html

Side read runners up: Call for the Dead  https://peregrinationsbooksand.blogspot.com/2021/02/call-for-dead.html 

Over My Dead Body https://peregrinationsbooksand.blogspot.com/2021/02/over-my-dead-body.html

ACCC: January, 2021

January: 1924     The Man in the Brown Suit  (read by Emilia Fox)

Side read: Blood on the Tracks: Railway Mysteries (anthology edited by Martin Edwards)

Non-winners: Somebody at the Door by Raymond Postgate

Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh

The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Death of an Airman by Christopher St. John Sprigg

Flying Finish by Dick Francis

I am not doing a side read this month. I can't get the winner on Audible. I have read Flying Finish multiple times, including just a few weeks ago, and I can't decide if I am interested enough in the other three titles to want to spend a credit on them -- well actually two since for sure the Highsmith is not talking to me right now.

 

Main Read Comments

 

I just sat there rolling my eyeballs (much easier to do when you are listening ) every time Anne Beddingfeld did something patently stupid and ill advised. "Anne, it's a trick; don't open the door, don't go to out at midnight to meet some unknown person" and she does it anyhow. And not just once over the course of the story but multiple times!

I liked the way Christie alternated between Anne's narration and the excerpts from Pedler's journal. We learn so much about Pedler from what he tells us and from what he obviously is not telling us. On the other hand, the romance didn't do much for me; the happily ever after did not add to the story at all; it was needless diversion.

All in all, as much as I enjoyed the story, it was only three stars. It is obvious that Christie is still trying to find her niche as an author.