The Ivory Dagger - Miss Silver, Bk 18 Author:Patricia Wentworth A Miss Silver Mystery -- A superb mystery in the great British tradition. — Miss Silver investigates ... — Lila Dryden was as beautiful as the antique ivory figurine in Sir Herbert Whitall's fabulous collection. Her dress was white crepe, her hair shining gold and the blood staining her hands and the ivory-handled dagger was as red as that spr... more »eading across Sir Herbert's body. She had shuddered when he kissed her, she had loathed his touch, but did she murder him?
Maud Silver, Private Enquiry Agent
She is everyone's favorite spinster-detective. In her black cloth coat and aged tippit of yellow fur, she is every bit the proper Victorian governess, which indeed she once was. Now she has taken on the much more lucrative occupation of private enquiry agent. Called "revered preceptress" by Scotland Yard for her uncanny ability to see into the very souls of murder suspects.« less
A Miss Silver Mystery. Because Sir Herbert was such a mean-spirited man, his entire staff and circle of acquaintances all had strong motives for wishing him dead. Miss Silver uncovers these motives with her particular brand of patience and rationality. . .
A young woman who can't bear to be touched by her fiance, an "aunt" bound and determined to see the wedding happen, a lover returned from the past, a cousin who stands aside for love, a professor who hates to be bested in an argument, a butler who is too perfect...
who did it?
I have 14 of the Miss Silver mysteries and I find them entertaining and informative. It is fun to try and figure out the differences in language and to realize how much the world has changed since she began writing in the 30's. I am a knitter and it is a wonderful sub story to see what she's knitting and how hard it was to find yarn. Wonderful!
When young Lila Dryden is found standing over the murdered body of her fiance with a bloddy dagger in her hand, her aunt, Lady Sybil Dryden, calls upon Miss Silver to investigate the situation. The murder weapon comes from the valuable collection of ivories which was owned by the murder victim, Sir Herbert Whitall, a collection usually kept in a securely locked cabinet. Although Lila's presence at the scene of the murder is incriminating, she insists that she was sleepwalking. Her former lover, Bill Waring, had returned and contacted her only that afternoon and is also held suspect. But because Sir Herbert was such a mean-spirited man, his entire staff and circle of acquantiances all had strong motives for wishing him dead. Miss Silver uncovers these motives with her particular brand of patience and rationality, untangling a web of mismatched love affairs, envy and deceit.
Yet another wonderful, but involved, mystery from Ms. Wentworth. Unlike the locked door mysteries, this one rests on the unlocked door. Red herrings abound. When the murderer is finally exposed, you won't believe who "did it."
