Patricia Wentworth and Agatha Christie
Today we welcome Aubrey Nye Hamilton, a former librarian who is always searching for the next great read. She publishes a new review, usually crime fiction, on Kevin’s Corner on Mondays and another new review on her own blog Happiness Is a Book on Fridays.
No one needs an introduction to Agatha Christie (1890-1976), that peerless symbol of the traditional mystery. Her books are among the most reprinted in the world and her name is synonymous with mystery. Starting in 1920, she created three very different kinds of investigators, one a former policeman turned private detective, the second a married couple who were undercover intelligence agents (debut in 1922), and the third an amateur sleuth with a reputation for sizing up people. Miss Jane Marple first appeared in “The Tuesday Night Club”, a short story published in the December 1927 issue of Royal Magazine. Her first full-length case was The Murder at the Vicarage (Dodd, Mead, 1930), followed by 11 more novels and many short stories.
A few years older than Christie, Dora Amy Elles (1877-1961) was born in India during the British Raj and was educated in England. She began publishing in 1910 and steadily produced novels, mysteries, and poems, more than 60 volumes, until the end of her life. Writing as Patricia Wentworth, she’s mostly known for 32 Miss Silver mysteries. First appearing in 1928, Miss Maud Silver is a former governess turned private investigator. She consults with the upper class of English society. Each happy client refers friends and relatives to her, and she has no need to advertise. She is often compared to Miss Marple, with good reason. She is accepted and consulted by members of Scotland Yard, most notably Frank Abbott, who rises through the ranks during the series, one of the few changes over the course of the stories. His relationship with Miss Silver mirrors Miss Marple’s relationship with Dermot Craddock of Scotland Yard.
Miss Marple and Miss Silver are described as elderly or old. Their ages are indeterminate, 45 would have been considered old at the time. Typical for mysteries of the early and middle parts of the 20th century, they do not change over the course of their adventures. Characters in traditional mysteries are secondary to the plot. There is no story arc about the life of the detective that is developed along with the solution of a crime. The characters are sketched when they are introduced and little, if any, further information about them is provided. Because there are no significant stories for the characters, each book stands alone. This means it is not necessary to start at the beginning of the series. The books lose nothing by being read out of order.
Both Miss Marple and Miss Silver are unmarried. I tend to think they are part of the flood of women who were left without marriageable contemporaries by World War I. England lost most of a generation of young men then, creating a cohort of women at loose ends because the men they would have married were all dead. Carola Dunn’s historical mystery series with Daisy Dalrymple is based on this situation. One of the final titles, Superfluous Women, describes the problem in explicit detail.
Miss Marple gained her keen knowledge of human nature from watching life in her village of St. Mary Mead. Miss Silver’s career as a governess gave her equal insight into human psychology. Both capitalize on their invisibility as an aging woman in a society that dismisses and undervalues that segment of the population. Generally, someone recognizes the error of doing so by the end of a book.
Despite many similarities, there are important differences between the two ladies. Miss Silver always knew she would have to earn a living, unlike Miss Marple, and she is well aware of her value. Miss Marple tends to dither and receive compliments about her investigative work with self-deprecation. Miss Silver accepts them as her due. Miss Marple will accept money if someone offers it to her, but Miss Silver charges for her services and does not apologize for her fees.
Miss Silver’s adventures invariably involve a pair of star-crossed lovers, as in the Brother Cadfael historical mysteries by Ellis Peters. Miss Marple sometimes assists a romance but not always. Some of my favorite Miss Silver stories deal with World War II and its aftermath. Part of Miss Marple’s charm is that her cases are not time bound.
For more about Miss Marple and Miss Silver, see the following articles:
“TNC & The Great Detectives: Marple and Silver Fight It Out” by Moira Redmond, Clothes In Books, April 10, 2018, http://clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2018/04/tnc-great-detectives-marple-and-silver.html
“Miss Silver” by Kevin Burton Smith, Thrilling Detective, October 19, 2018, https://thrillingdetective.com/2018/10/19/miss-maud-silver/
“The ‘Other’ Golden Age Knitting Sleuth – Alice K. Boatwright on Miss Silver”, The Crime Readers Association, November 19, 2019, https://thecra.co.uk/golden-age-knitting-sleuth-alice-k-boatwright-miss-silver/
As previously stated, no need to consider order of publication in deciding where to start. Books in both series function as stand-alones. My favorite Miss Marple cases are What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw (1957), A Murder is Announced (1950), and The Moving Finger (1942). The latter case deals with an anonymous letter writer and the damage it causes.
Miss Silver addressed a similar situation in Poison in the Pen (1955). I liked these other Miss Silver titles as well: The Chinese Shawl (1943), The Case of William Smith (1948), The Listening Eye (1955), and Miss Silver Deals with Death (1943).
