The Gazebo: A Miss Silver Mystery

Very British, More Romance than Mystery Patricia Wentworth wrote mysteries during the same time period as Agatha Christie, and continued writing them well into her seventies, as did her more well-known peer. The sleuth of her mysteries is an elderly spinster named Miss Maud Silver and she has often been compared to Miss Marple. Personally, other than the obvious, I don’t think they have much in common. For one thing, in none of the Miss Silver books does she appear to have a personal life, we never seem to get introduced to anyone…

Better if you haven’t read others in the series The 29th book (of 32) in the cozy mid-century Miss Silver series is a very decent read if you haven’t read the previous 28. It isn’t bad if you have – I’ve been reading them in order for a couple of months – but there are just so many recycled plot devices that I get distracted trying to figure out which book(s) already had: a hypochondriac, a dutiful and downtrodden daughter, a disappearing and reappearing suitor, a victim or would-be victim about to be shoved off a traffic island, a hidden…

Written towards the end of the series the action is set in the fifties in an English village now on the outskirts of London. It is slower in pace than most but this allows for great character development which I enjoy. A lot of humour and the requisite body found most inconveniantly for the young lovers and their trip to the altar.All comes right as Miss Silver sorts it all out deftly dealing with all the miscreants making it all come right in the end.This series is a…