Patricia Wentworth

Patricia Wentworth (born Dora Amy Elles; November 10, 1878 - January 28, 1961) was a British crime fiction writer.

She was born in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India (then the British Raj). She was educated privately and at Blackheath High School in London. After the death of her first husband, George F. Dillon, in 1906, she settled in Camberley, Surrey. She married George Oliver Turnbull in 1920 and they had one daughter.

She wrote a series of 32 crime novels (classic-style whodunits) many featuring Miss Silver, the first of which was published in 1928, and the last of which was published in the year of her death. Miss Silver is sometimes compared to Jane Marple, the elderly detective created by Agatha Christie. Miss Silver is a retired governess who becomes a private detective. She works closely with Scotland Yard, especially Inspector Frank Abbott. She is fond of quoting the poet Tennyson. "Miss Silver is well known in the better circles of society, and she finds entree to the troubled households of the upper classes with little difficulty. In most of Miss Silver's cases there is a young couple whose romance seems ill fated because of the murder to be solved, but in Miss Silver's competent hands the case is solved, the young couple are exonerated, and all is right in this very traditional world."^[1] Wentworth also wrote 34 books outside of that series.

She won the Melrose prize in 1910 for her first novel A Marriage Under The Terror, set in the French Revolution.^[2] Her novels have been the topic of a doctoral dissertation.^[3]

Novels

• A Marriage under the Terror, 1910
• A Child's Rhyme Book, 1910
• A Little More Than Kin (or: More Than Kin), 1911
• The Devil's Wind, 1912
• The Fire Within, 1913
• Simon Heriot, 1914
• Queen Anne Is Dead, 1915
• Earl Or Chieftain?, 1919
• The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith, 1923
• The Red Lacquer Case, 1924
• The Annam Jewel, 1924
• The Black Cabinet, 1925
• The Dower House Mystery, 1925
• The Amazing Chance, 1926
• Hue And Cry, 1927
• Anne Belinda, 1927
• Grey Mask, 1928
• Will-O'-The-Wisp, 1928
• Fool Errant, 1929
• Beggar's Choice, 1930
• The Coldstone, 1930
• Danger Calling, 1931
• Kingdom Lost, 1931
• Nothing Venture, 1932
• Red Danger (USA: Red Shadow), 1932
• Seven Green Stones (USA: Outrageous Fortune), 1933
• Walk with Care, 1933
• Devil-In-The-Dark (USA: Touch And Go), 1934
• Fear by Night, 1934
• Red Stefan, 1935
• Blindfold, 1935
• Dead or Alive, 1936
• Hole and Corner, 1936
• The Case Is Closed, 1937
• Down Under, 1937
• Mr Zero, 1938
• Run!, 1938
• Lonesome Road, 1939
• The Blind Side, 1939
• Who Pays The Piper? (USA: Account Rendered), 1940
• Rolling Stone, 1940
• Unlawful Occasions (USA: Weekend with Death), 1941
• Pursuit Of A Parcel, 1942
• Danger Point (USA: In the Balance), 1942
• The Chinese Shawl, 1943
• Miss Silver Intervenes (USA: Miss Silver Deals with Death), 1944
• Beneath the Hunter's Moon, 1945
• The Clock Strikes Twelve, 1945
• The Key, 1946
• Silence in Court, 1947
• The Traveller Returns (USA: She Came Back), 1948
• Pilgrim's Rest (or: Dark Threat), 1948
• Latter End, 1949
• Spotlight (USA: Wicked Uncle), 1949
• Eternity Ring, 1950
• The Case of William Smith, 1950
• Miss Silver Comes To Stay, 1951
• The Catherine-Wheel, 1951
• The Brading Collection (or: Mr Brading's Collection), 1952
• Through the Wall, 1952
• The Pool of Dreams, 1953
• Anna, Where Are You? (or: Death At Deep End), 1953
• The Watersplash, 1953
• The Ivory Dagger, 1953
• Ladies' Bane, 1954]
• Out of the Past, 1955
• Vanishing Point, 1955
• The Benevent Treasure, 1956
• The Silent Pool, 1956
• Poison in the Pen, 1957
• The Listening Eye, 1957
• The Gazebo (or: The Summerhouse), 1958
• The Watersplash, 1959
• The Fingerprint, 1959
• The Alington Inheritance, 1958
• The Girl in the Cellar, 1961

References

External links

• Works by Patricia Wentworth at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Patricia Wentworth at Internet Archive
• Books by Wentworth
• Stories by Wentworth