Patricia Wentworth

A young woman goes to the country to reconnect with old relatives, and stumbles on a murder only Miss Silver can solve An orphan of the Second World War, Candida Sayle has gotten so used to life with her guardian that she never considered that she might have a family somewhere. When her guardian dies, a letter appears from an unheard-of aunt, informing Candida that it is time for her to return to the Benevent family fold. The young woman ventures to the country, and finds a strange pair of spinsters who spend their days obsessing over family lore and its rumors of a long-lost Italian treasure. Bizarre though it is, the environment comforts Candida—as do the attentions of her aunt’s handsome young secretary. But her vacation goes off the rails when death strikes the house, and the brilliant detective Maud Silver joins the party to investigate the possible murder. The Benevent family history is about to get a dark new chapter.

Political intrigue and industrial espionage are brewing in Britain's Foreign Office in this thriller from the author of the Miss Silver Mysteries On a dark, foggy night, Hugo Ross encounters a beautiful woman. She claims to be running away and begs Hugo not to tell anyone that he's seen her. Before boarding her train, she warns him not to take the job he's applying for: secretary to eccentric inventor Ambrose Minstrel. The train pulls away, and the stunning stranger is gone. Desperate for employment, Hugo ignores her warning and takes the job. He's barely moved into Meade House when a message from Loveday Leigh is hand-delivered: He must leave immediately and burn the letter. When they finally meet again at Waterloo Station, Loveday is not the mysterious woman Hugo remembers. Odd happenings continue, and he enlists the help of the esteemed Benbow Smith, an enigmatic figure connected to London's Foreign Office. Soon Hugo is caught up in an undercover plot involving governmental intrigue, industrial espionage, and stolen military secrets. With his own life on the line, how much is he willing to risk for his country? Fool Errant is the 1st book in the Benbow Smith Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

A Miss Silver seaside mystery. A selfish, grasping man crashes a country party whose guests include his jilted bride (now married to another), his stepmother, and a former lover. He blackmails them all--when he is murdered, Miss Silver and Frank Abbott must untangle the mystery.

An amnesiac Holocaust survivor steps into a mystery that only Miss Silver can solve. William Smith is not sure what his name is, but he doubts it’s William Smith, the name the Nazis gave him when he wandered out of one of their hospitals in 1942, to be herded, along with so many others, into one of their nightmarish camps. They did their best to kill this man without a name, but he survived because a man with no identity has nothing to fear. Now, the war over, he is back in England, ready to make a new life. But even a man with no past cannot escape history. William Smith is about to find himself enmeshed in a terrifying mystery, which only Maud Silver, the staunch, old-fashioned detective, can solve. He may yet learn his name, but it could cost him his life.

Lucas Dale, new owner of King’s Bourne, was flirting with danger when he showed his priceless collection of pearls to the guests assembled in his period salon. But when, under threat, he forced lovely Susan Lenox to break her engagement and consent to marry him, he started a train of events that inevitably led to murder, shattering the quiet of the English village. Bill Carrick, Susan’s former fiancé, is the primary suspect, but as Inspector Ernest Lamb and Detective Frank Abbott soon discover, Dale’s questionable past offered motives of revenge and greed to darken the mystery. Motives which would lead another victim into the path of murder…

There is nothing more deadly than a friend betrayed. There is no doubt in Thomasina Elliott's mind that her oldest schoolfriend is a creature of habit. So when, after three years of regular correspondence, Anna's letters suddenly stop, Thomasina becomes concerned. And even more so when it transpires that her friend has disappeared without trace, in extremely odd circumstances. Fortunately, however, the indomitable Miss Silver is on hand to investigate. Also published as Death at Deep End.

Roger Pilgrim and his relatives turn to veteran sleuth Miss Silver to catch a killer. The two Miss Pilgrims, Columba and Janetta, think it unwise to leave their fine ancestral home, Pilgrim's Rest. When their brother suffers a fatal fall only days after talking about selling it, and his son, Major Roger Pilgrim, barely escapes two nearly fatal "accidents," they suspect it is deadly to leave. Thank goodness Miss Silver has come for a visit. Surely, her insight and intelligent observations will determine just why the house hates to be empty. Miss Silver mystery #10 Alternate title: Dark Threat

A young woman’s violent murder shocks a quiet village, and Miss Silver comes to investigate. In Deeping, a village so tiny that its residents share a common phone line, gossip is the chief amusement. Scotland Yard inspector Frank Abbott has family there, and thinks it a charming spot for a vacation until the country quiet is broken by a cry of “Murder!” A young German woman, recently come to town, has been making vague threats about recovering something that was stolen from her. She disappears for a weekend, and a woman of her description is seen brutally murdered on a country road. But when Inspector Abbot goes to see the body, the corpse has gone. He takes the peculiar case to Miss Silver, the brilliant amateur detective, and she agrees to investigate the small town where gossip turned fatal. Miss Silver mystery #14

Clandestine operative Benbow Smith recruits a former Secret Service agent to bring down an enemy of the free world in this thriller from the author of the classic Miss Silver Mysteries.

Young Sally Meredith is distracted from her jam recipes by a visit from her uncle Fritzi, who is accompanied by a mysterious red lacquer case containing a deadly secret. A band of unscrupulous international agents are close behind, and when the eccentric uncle disappears into the night the lacquer case is stolen. But Sally is now the only person who knows how to open the case without destroying its contents - and she is kidnapped, her life in terrible danger. Meanwhile Bill Armitage, formerly Sally's fiance and still in love with her, begins with the aid of Scotland Yard to search for her.

Miss Silver travels to the country to investigate a young man who may be deceiving his wife. No one has seen Allegra Trent since she got married. Her husband swept her off her feet and out of London, to a faraway town called Bleake. She has stopped writing letters, and her family has begun to worry. Allegra’s husband is a strange man, consumed with the dream of owning a ramshackle medieval estate, and he intends to use his new wife’s money to do it. Why he wants to live there no one knows, but Josepha Bowden does not want his castle to become her goddaughter’s prison. She asks the help of Maud Silver, the former governess who now makes a living using her reason to unravel the intricacies of murder. There has been no killing in Bleake, but if Miss Silver doesn’t intervene quickly, there could be one soon.

When Sarah Trent was engaged as governess to seventeen-year-old Lucilla Hildred, she didn’t bargain for a series of sinister occurrences—scary noises, the nocturnal rattle of claws against glass, a sabotaged bicycle. Then there is a neighbouring burglary, leaving a set of muddy footprints—but whose? Sarah comes to suspect that someone is trying to kill the orphaned Lucilla, sole heir to a fortune. Is it visiting American John Brown, or could Lucilla be playing a deceptive game of her own? Someone is poised, waiting like a snake to strike, and Lucilla may not be the only prey…