The Key
- ISBN-10
- ISBN-13
- 9798684879722
- Series
- The Key
- Pages
- 289
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2020-09-10
- Authors
- Patricia Wentworth, Dora Amy Dillon Turnbull, Dora Amy Elles
Description
Dora Amy Elles (15 October 1877 - 28 January 1961), who wrote as Patricia Wentworth, was a British crime fiction writer.She was born in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India (then the British Raj), and was educated first privately, then at Blackheath High School for Girls in London. Her father was General Edmond Elles. She and her first husband, George F. Dillon, had one daughter. She also became stepmother to Dillon's two sons, one of whom died in the Somme during World War I. After Dillon's death, in 1906, she settled in Camberley, Surrey. In 1920, she married Lt. Col. George Oliver Turnbull.Wentworth wrote a series of 32 crime novels in the classic whodunit style, featuring Miss Maud Silver, a retired governess and teacher who becomes a professional private detective, in London, England. Miss Silver works closely with Scotland Yard, especially Inspector Frank Abbott, and is fond of quoting the poet Tennyson. Miss Silver is sometimes compared to Jane Marple, the elderly detective created by Agatha Christie."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."Wentworth also wrote 34 books outside that series. She won the Melrose prize in 1910 for her first novel A Marriage Under The Terror, set in the French Revolution. Her novels were the topic of Jariel D. O'Neil's 1988 doctoral dissertation.It's the 1940s. World War II is raging and a Jewish refugee in England is working on a substance that could give Britain an edge in the war. Michael Harsch has worked for years trying to perfect his work and now he's finally ready to turn it over to the War Office. He calls Sir George Rendal to let him know of the success and makes arrangements to turn his findings and all his notes over the next day. It's an appointment that he'll never keep. Harsch goes to the church to relax with music and is later found dead beside the organ. And a German pistol is found beside him. The door is locked and key is in his pocket. There are other keys--but they all seem to be accounted for. A coroner's jury brings in a verdict of "suicide while the balance of his mind was disturbed." But Harsch's friends don't believe it and Janice Meade calls in Miss Maud Silver to find out the truth. Miss Silver's years as a governess have given her plenty of insight into human nature.
