Saturday, August 8, 2015

The Ivory Dagger, by Patricia Wentworth

I enjoyed this outing with Miss Silver, originally published in 1950.  It is a country-house murder, which finds the house's owner Herbert Whitall stabbed with the dagger of the title.  Discovered standing over his body, with blood on her ivory dress, is the fiancée he was to marry in four days, Lila Dryden.  Lila's aunt Lady Dryden, staying there with her niece, rings up her friend Ray Fortescue in the middle of the night, to order her to collect Miss Maud Silver and bring her down to Vineyards with her.  Ray is very reluctant to do so, until she arrives at Miss Silver's neat flat with its comfortable Victorian furniture.  There she falls under Miss Silver's spell.  When Scotland Yard is called in later, Miss Silver's old friend DI Frank Abbott is as usual completely unsurprised to find her already in residence and full of helpful information.  The case proceeds in fits and starts, as different people disclose key points of information, until finally the solution falls into place.  This felt more like a case of using "the little grey cells" rather than actual investigating.  But overall it is a fun story, with two nice romances in the middle.

Since I started following the Clothes in Books blog, I've become more aware of the descriptions of dress in different books.  When we first meet Ray, she is wearing "her new autumn suit,"
because nothing gives you so much confidence as to feel that you are looking your best.  The suit was a success, and so was the little off-the-face hat that went with it.  They were perfectly matched, and they were just two shades lighter than her dark brown hair.  There was a spray of autumn leaves and berries on her hat, repeating the gay lipstick which went so well with the clear brown of her skin.
I was not prepared however for the first glimpse of Miss Silver in this book.  Ray has rung her up on the morning after the murder and is on her way over.  Miss Silver's devoted maid Emma has just brought her in a cup of tea. 
Removing her new bright blue dressing-gown with the practically indestructible hand-made crochet trimming skillfully transferred from its crimson flannel predecessor, Miss Silver stood revealed in a slip petticoat of grey artificial silk and a neat white spencer whose high neck and long sleeves had also been adorned with a narrow crochet edging.
I do not need to meet Miss Silver in her bedroom, let alone "three parts dressed"!  I cannot think that Miss Silver herself would want us in there.  I much prefer to wait with her clients in the drawing room.  However, I cannot help wondering what a spencer is in this context.  I am only familiar with the Regency-era spencers, which are short-waisted jackets - with long sleeves and high necks, like Miss Silver's, but worn over dresses, not as underclothing.

I did have one quibble with this book, which applies to a lot of the "cozy" mysteries that I've read lately.  Generally, the future victim is obvious from the first pages.  He or she is clearly marked out as a bad person - rude, selfish, cruel, loud-mouthed, carrying on feuds with family and neighbors, threatening or blackmailing them.  Often this person is trying to do something wicked like evicting a widow, tearing down a beloved landmark, or ruining local businesses.  She or he might be guilty of kicking stray cats and children.  Within a couple of chapters, the reader has a pretty good idea who is going to be killed and why, as well as who has a motive to murder.  Sometimes it feels like the author is setting up a straw-man, and these books can start to feel a bit rote.  Awful character => motives for murder => murder => investigation of motives, with means and opportunity => solution.  I'm starting to find this type of story rather unsatisfying.  Patricia Wentworth has written several along these lines, but I find the same thing in recently-published books.  I think I like my mystery stories with a little more mystery.  What will Peter Wimsey discover at Pym's Publicity, or Robert Blair in the old Franchise house?  What will interrupt the Emerson family's archaeological work this season?  How will the latest case that Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid are investigating for Scotland Yard unfold?  I guess it's about finding the authors that write the kind of mystery stories that I enjoy.  I think the library may be the place to carry out this kind of investigation, rather than spending money on books that I find so unsatisfying.  Which isn't to say though that I won't be reading more of Miss Silver!

18 comments:

  1. I haven't read any books by Wentworth, I do read a lot of mysteries. I see you like the Emerson family in Egypt books, they are great. What an indomitable heroine with her tool kit which she wears when needed. Always ready to give a villain a thumping with her umbrella :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh yes, Terra - or draw something from her legendary tool-belt :) I am looking forward (with a smidge of trepidation) to the last Amelia book.

      Delete
  2. I'm always happy to find a series that I haven't read! This one sounds like fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is, Audrey! And since the stories aren't really connected, you can really start anywhere & read in any order (though I wouldn't recommend starting with the last few she wrote).

      Delete
  3. I think a spencer if what I would call a vest - a long-armed (or singlet-style) finely knitted undergarment. We don't have much call for them in Australia though... If you prefer not to know about Miss Silver's undies, I suggest not reading Through the Wall - but do see Clothes in Books: http://clothesinbooks.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/dress-down-sunday-miss-silvers-knickers.html for what I envisage is a spencer. (Re Ivory Dagger, I wanted to SHAKE Lila for being such a wimp - and wasn't the 'don't want to be touched' thing just a bit weird for a cozy?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I remember reading something on Clothes in Books about knitted underwear, and thinking the woolen kind must have been agony at times. I have Through the Wall on the TBR pile - so thank you for the warning :)

      I can see Lila not wanting to be touched by Herbert, but her general sqeamishness does not bode well for Adrian. I don't think he's looking for a platonic marriage, no matter how devoted to her he is.

      Delete
  4. My first reaction was astonishment that Miss Silver could do so much with crochet as well as all that knitting. When I got past that I agreed with you. I can enjoy a non-mysterious mystery if the characters are engaging and I can enjoy moving through the story with them, otherwise I'm lost. My first two outings with Miss Silver passed the test but the third didn't, so I've not rushing to pick up number four.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought of you reading this, as Miss Silver knits 2 infant's vests during all the questioning of suspects, and then edges them with crochet trimming!

      The one I read before this (The Alington Inheritance) was so awful that I did not rush to pick up another one either.

      Delete
  5. I'm glad you mentioned what she was knitting as I had been wondering. I think the Miss Silver books are a bit hit and miss which is fair enough I suppose. I actually have patterns for knitted underwear from the 1930s, they must have been agony to wear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Considering how many she wrote, I think it's very fair - I think there were two at least in 1950! The thought of "woolen combinations" just makes me itch like crazy.

      Delete
  6. I think the weak mystery aspect of cozies is why I don't enjoy them all that much. I like my mystery novels to have a really strong puzzle in them. Have you tried the Ruth Galloway mysteries by Elly Griffiths? They have an archaeological aspect, likeable characters, a bit of romantic tension and the mysteries are pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't read anything by Elly Griffiths - but I will look for her at the library. I like archaeological mysteries very much!

      Delete
    2. I second this recommendation!

      Delete
    3. Recommendations from you both are not to be ignored :)

      Delete
  7. My library doesn't have any books by Patricia Wentworth. Isn't that sad? I'll have to start requesting some of her novels from other libraries, because they sound like a lot of fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mine didn't either! I've been lucky enough to come across old paperbacks. She may be out of print, but there are a lot of copies floating around, at least around me :)

      Delete
    2. I'll have to start haunting the used bookstores around me...even more than I do now. :) Darn.

      Delete
    3. Happy haunting and hunting :)

      Delete

Thank you for taking the time to read, and to comment. I always enjoy hearing different points of view about the books I am reading, even if we disagree!