Review: Top-Flight "Damsel in Distress"
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 23, 2014
As I reread my way through these Miss Silvers books, which I read first as they originally  were published, more than a few years ago, I am increasingly impressed by just how good Patricia  Wentworth was at writing what were then called "Damsel in Distress" mysteries. ( Happily, an earlier reviewer reminds us of that delicious designation which appears to have disappeared in this age of the karate chop female private eye and  two-gun female cop.) I can understand the "New Woman" turning in disgust from these apparently hapless, to them immensely irritating, most often young, beautiful females who are in need of a strong hand to get out of the mess they are in....even when that strong hand is made effective by a little old lady (figuratively) in crinolines.In this one, Miss Silver must intrude herself when the wife of a Lord of the Manor comes to her in distress but then rejects the proffered aid under the influence of her husband. Miss Silver finally comes into the case, but that is peripheral to the fate of the young woman which seems to hinge on the interrelationship of her husband, two cousins who grew up with him  on the Manor, and assorted workmen on and near the Estate. Suffice to say that the heroine's emotions bob up and down, like flotsam and jetsam at her husband's Will and at dismaying events into which her life is  projected and that her ultimate fate is little influenced by anything she independently decides to do.I was surprised by the off-stage role played by Miss Silver (although this is not the only occasion in which it can be found), but nevertheless experienced in full measure the suspense created by the dangers faced by the Damsel. Perhaps somewhat overdoing the helplessness aspect of that central role, Wentworth does a fine job in drawing out the pain and uncertainty of this appealing Dame.