Miss Silver is a fictional detective featured in 32 novels by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Character

Miss Maud Silver is a retired

governess A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...

-turned- private detective. Like

Miss Marple Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterised as an elderly spinster, she is one ...

, Miss Silver's age and demeanor make her appear harmless. Some admire the character, believing that "while Miss Marple may receive ten times the attention as Miss Silver, ��the woefully neglected Miss Silver is the real deal – a professional investigator and stand-up woman, a true forerunner of all future female private eyes." Others disagree, claiming that the character "has none of the credibility of ��Miss Marple �� Her spinsterish appearance is inconsistent with her sensational behavior and also with the far-fetched plots of the novels she features in." Wentworth wrote a series of 32 crime novels in the classic

whodunit A ''whodunit'' (less commonly spelled as ''whodunnit''; a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal ...

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 Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's ...

. Miss Silver is sometimes compared to Jane Marple, the elderly detective created by

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

"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."

Others have argued that Miss Silver's seemingly "passive" knitting in fact gives her "narrative presence" and "a legitimate voice."Sağlam, Berkem. "Spinning the Tale: Spinster Detectives and the Construction of Narrative in the Miss Silver Mysteries." ''Folklor/edebiyat'' 26 (2020), pp. 317-318.

Novels

* ''Grey Mask'', 1928 * ''The Case is Closed'', 1937 * ''Lonesome Road'', 1939 * ''Danger Point'' (U.S. title: ''In the Balance''), 1941 * ''The Chinese Shawl'', 1943 * ''Miss Silver Intervenes'' (U.S. title: ''Miss Silver Deals with Death''), 1943 * ''The Clock Strikes Twelve'', 1944 * ''The Key'', 1944 * ''The Traveller Returns'' (U.S. title: ''She Came Back''), 1945 * ''Pilgrim's Rest'' (also published as ''Dark Threat''), 1946 * ''Latter End'', 1947 * ''Spotlight'' (U.S. title: ''Wicked Uncle''), 1947 * ''Eternity Ring'', 1948 * ''The Case of William Smith'', 1948 * ''Miss Silver Comes to Stay'', 1949 * ''The Catherine Wheel'', 1949 * ''Through the Wall'', 1950 * ''The Brading Collection'' (also published as ''Mr. Brading's Collection''), 1950 * ''The Ivory Dagger'', 1951 * ''Anna, Where Are You?'' (also published as ''Death at Deep End''), 1951 * ''The Watersplash'', 1951 * ''Ladies' Bane'', 1952 * ''Out of the Past'', 1953 * ''Vanishing Point'', 1953 * ''The Silent Pool'', 1954 * ''The Benevent Treasure'', 1953 * ''The Listening Eye'', 1955 * ''Poison in the Pen'', 1955 * ''The Gazebo'' (also published as ''The Summerhouse''), 1956 * ''The Fingerprint'', 1956 * ''The Alington Inheritance'', 1958 * ''The Girl in the Cellar'', 1961

Notes

References

* * * Sağlam, Berkem. "Spinning the Tale: Spinster Detectives and the Construction of Narrative in the Miss Silver Mysteries." ''Folklor/edebiyat'' 26 (2020), pp. 317-328. DOI:10.22559/folklor.1147. Book series introduced in 1928 Characters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction Female characters in literature Literary characters introduced in 1928 Novel series Silver, Miss Fictional British detectives Fictional female amateur detectives {{novel-char-stub