Charles Moray has come home to England to collect his inheritance. After four years wandering the jungles of India and South America, the hardy young man returns to the manor of his birth, where generations of Morays have lived and died. Strangely, he finds the house unlocked, and sees a light on in one of its abandoned rooms. Eavesdropping, he learns of a conspiracy to commit a fearsome crime.

Never one for the heroic, Charles’ first instinct is to let the police settle it. But then he hears her voice. Margaret, his long-lost love, is part of the gang. To unravel their diabolical plot, he contacts Miss Silver, a onetime governess who applies her reason to solve crimes and face the dangers of London’s underworld.

Listening Length

7 hours and 33 minutes
Author

Patricia Wentworth
Narrator

Diana Bishop
Audible release date

February 12, 2014
Language

English
Publisher

Audible Studios
ASIN

B00IEGLO3Y
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	7 hours and 33 minutes
Author	Patricia Wentworth
Narrator	Diana Bishop
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	February 12, 2014
Publisher	Audible Studios
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B00IEGLO3Y
Best Sellers Rank	#41,378 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #269 in Amateur Sleuth Mysteries (Audible Books & Originals) #326 in Traditional Detective Mysteries (Audible Books & Originals) #1,101 in Women Sleuth Mysteries

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

1,015 global ratings

5 star		46%
4 star		29%
3 star		17%
2 star		4%
1 star		4%

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P. Wilson

Entertaining

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2023

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I enjoyed the book. Miss Silver is a very enigmatic figure. How did she find out all the things she knew? Such as where the girl is hidden etc etc. it was never explained. She just did. One too many times the word frightful was used. Even adults. It wad a little annoying. Safe to say, I did enjoy the book and plan on reading her next one.

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Tdr

Meh

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 29, 2019

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First let me get this off my chest. Based on this first Miss Silver book, I hate comparisons of her to Miss Marple. They are both mature single English women, but after that, there is no comparison. Unlike Miss Marple, Miss Silver is an active investigator. She has a detective’s office and takes on (or refuses) clients. She goes out on the street and does the investigating. This is the first book in the series and so far, I’m not impressed. Miss Silver plays a minor role. She does the investigating while we are spending time with all the other characters. The main character, Charles Moray hires her, then goes back to see her a few days later and she fills him in on almost everything, but we have no idea what she did or how she did it. In the end it wasn’t even she who solves the case (the main case, she did help solve the later one).

Just past the half way point I found that I couldn’t stand any of the characters. The missing heiress who can’t shut her mouth deserved to be “gotten out of the way”. Even Charles and his former fiancée, Margaret got to be quite annoying.

The last few chapters are the only chapters with any real suspense. As I mentioned earlier, all Miss Silver’s investigating is done behind the scenes so we are not part of it. I did manage to figure out some plot lines early in the book.
Unless this book has been edited, I found that it could be considered “timeless” in that there was nothing mentioned to date the book. Granted, they mentioned ‘the War’, but now days any war that’s occurred in the last century would fit because there were no details. Some books of that era will give detailed descriptions of the automobiles of the time so you can tell when the book was written, but this book does none of that.

I’m afraid I did purchase a number of other Miss Silver books, to take advantage of the 99¢ price. I’ll try one or two more since I’ve read other series where they improved after the first book.

50 people found this helpful

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Nena

good

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 1, 2022

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This is the first Miss Silver book and is quite good, although not the best. It was a bit boring; however, it became much better in the last chapters.

One person found this helpful

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Jugliz

A promising, long new/old series

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 14, 2020

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I almost didn’t finish this, but I’m very glad I did. The character Margot Standing nearly drove me mad with her stupidity. But it was worth it to find out the mystery.

Miss Silvers is a governess turned detective. She got a reputation for getting people out of sticky situations, and decided to make a profession of it. I suppose it would be usual to compare her to Miss Marple, but they’re quite different except for their shrewdness and their knitting. The other characters are also vital in solving the mystery. I hope we shall cross paths with them, except for Margot, again. They actually occupy most of the story, with Miss Silver appearing at strategic moments, although she is there more often that they realize. I suppose most people don’t concern themselves when they see an elderly woman, and it is a kind of in invisibility for her. I’m anxious to read on, fortunately I have a 3-book omnibus. I’m not sure how many books are in the series, but more than 20.

This was first copyright in 1929. No-one knew what was coming. I wonder whether the series will continue into the miseries of the 1930s, or remain somewhat timeless.

2 people found this helpful

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Idarah

A jewel of the Golden Age Era!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 4, 2018

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"‘He’s got lovely eyelashes. Charles was frightfully cross because I told him they were yards longer than his.’ ‘Men don’t have eyelashes,’ said Archie sternly. ‘It’s not done.’"

This was a delightful and charming cozy mystery! Written in 1928, the Miss Silver mystery series was recommended years ago by a friend who shared my love of Golden Age mysteries. I can't think why I didn't start it sooner, but I challenged myself this year to start five new series so it spurred me forward. It was so easy to pick up and put down; light reading. I was even able to read a big chunk of it on long boat ride on the River Shannon in Ireland, and while hanging out in coffee shops when I would greedily hook up to WIFI so my devices could sync.

What I always love about mysteries of this age are the references to a good meal, scalding and restorative tea, the humor, and of course the British angle. I'm usually not too surprised about how they end or who the culprits were, but in this case I really had no clue! Great start to a long series! Looking forward to savoring the rest.

18 people found this helpful

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Bunsters Mom

Classic Christie

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 22, 2022

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After months of reading modern whoduits, I'm delighted to return to the charm of nearly 100 years ago when ladies like Christie, Wentworth and Rinehart solved mysteries without benefit of police procedure. Move over, Sherlock!

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Did Not Disappoint

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 26, 2017

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I remember reading Miss Silver stories many years ago, and enjoyed them very much. They are quite different from Miss Marple stories, as Miss Silver is an actual private detective. I love reading vintage murder mysteries as there's no sex, real violence or nasty language, it is really escapism. You forget to worry about things like blood splatter and all the other forensic stuff we see on television. Most vintage murder mysteries are long and involved, with several twists and turns, once you get past "the little woman" mentality and their outdated class prejudices. They were of their time. I usually enjoy such books, but I have been trying to wade through a vintage mystery where the prose was just too 'prosy'. I have been unable to get past the second chapter so was looking for something else, when I came across this, the first Miss Silver book. I hadn't read this one before and it was a relief to be able to get back into a book and enjoy it. Although I did enjoy it, if memory serves, the stories even improve as they go on and I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with Miss Silver.

13 people found this helpful

PAMELA FLETCHER

Review Grey Mask

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 8, 2017

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Since retiring, I have been catching up on all the 1920's & 1930's crime fiction which I never had the time or inclination to read beforehand. So I began with Sayers, Heyer & Allingham. (I also caught up with the last few of P.D. James after reading all of hers over the years but she is above parr in all respects). Obviously, relating to the maturation of narrative style, some of those were better than others, the best being excellent. And now I am turning to Patricia Wentworth. This first one is, as I expected, a little drab and over-wordy. Miss Silver has not the 'status' or personal style of Miss Marple but Wentworth made a good fist of a first in the series. I didn't give up on it though, as with Christie sometimes, I found the plot rather contrived. But then, I have to remind myself that these early works are to crime writing only the beginning of a genre which provided a rich vein to mine. Dryden said of Shakespeare that if all his works were thrown into a melting pot, then silver would float to the top. In other words, taken all together, they are consistently of value, even as they are not all solid gold!! I would not rank crime writing as even close to Shakepeare's canon of brilliance, but Dryden's comment, in the context of crime fiction would apply just the same.

10 people found this helpful

C. E. Utley

Delightful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 1, 2015

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How embarrassing that I had never heard of Patricia Wentworth until stumbling across this delightful book.

It is, I think, about 1928. Charles Moray has returned from his four years of foreign travel, He left England after his fiancee, Margaret Langton, cancelled their wedding a week before it was due to take place, without giving any reason. He goes to his London house, without announcing his arrival. The door is open. The servants are out. He tiptoes in and comes across a strange and disturbing scene. A man in a grey mask seems to be holding court. The men who come and go are addressed by numbers, not by names. A dastardly crime seems to be being plotted. Charles plans how to capture the crooks. But then, to his horror, he sees a woman, with a number, approach Grey Mask. She hands over a package. He can't hear what she says. But he knows, instantly, that she is Margaret Langton. His plans must be abandoned. He can't possibly go to the police. He must act alone.

But Charles is not entirely alone. He goes to a private investigator, Miss Silver. He doesn't tell her all, but Miss Silver quickly works it out. Quite how she does so (and this I suppose is the story's weakness) is never apparent. We just come across her every now and again, in her office, knitting and telling Charles all sorts of startling facts.

Miss Silver is no Miss Marple. Maybe she acquires a real character in later books (I shall certainly read them), but, in this one, she is entirely cardboard. Others, however, are great fun. Margot Standing, the eighteen year-old heiress who seems to be the criminals' target is gloriously silly and fun. Freddy, Margaret's step father, is splendidly vague and amusing. Archie, constantly misquoting Shakespeare, is almost certainly much brighter than he wants people to believe.

Anyone who enjoys light English literature from the inter-war years will love this book.

Charles

11 people found this helpful

GerCelt

Classic effortlessly charming mystery

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 11, 2021

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How i missed this author before I can't imagine but thoroughly enjoyed this classic detective story.
Charles returns to England 4cyears after Margaret jilted him, convinced he's over her. Fate throws them together in a tangled web of criminal gangs, a missing heiress and tangled inheritance. The mild but extremely clever Miss Silver is at hand to help him find his way.
Action, wit, romance and a sense of time and place that makes this a charming read. Looking forward to reading more.

Jennifer Beels

Disappointing Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 25, 2016

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Having just made my way through the 15 Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L Sayers, I was looking for a new 'fix' and thought I would give this a go as it was recommended by other readers and I believe there are 30 books in the Miss Silver series. I enjoy this kind of period writing detective / mystery genre and was looking for more of the same.

I have to say that I was highly disappointed with the lack of development of Miss Silver and the other characters. The plot is very much like an old black and white Sunday afternoon film, which, while pleasant enough, was not what I was looking for in a series of this kind. Miss Silver, seemed to know a lot without being told, drawing on her knowledge of other crimes that had been committed, but there was no insight into her thought processes at all. The reader was not taken along with the who-dunnit aspects of the book. In fact, with very little change to the book, Miss Silver need not have been involved at all! There was complexity in the plot, but on more than one occasion, I was completely lost as to what was happening or who was being referred to and had to re-read those sections a couple of times to work it out. However, the tension experienced by Charles over the dilemma of getting his ex-fiancee into trouble versus protecting the life of Margot was well written and believable.

Having said all of this, I will try the second book in the series, in the hopes that we will see Miss Silver unfold as a character and settle into her role as sleuthess.

7 people found this helpful

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