The Girl in the Cellar by Patricia Wentworth, for the 1961 Club

Most people think of Patricia Wentworth as a Golden Age of Detective Fiction writer whose books fall into the cozy category; however, The Girl in the Cellar opens with a very frightening scene.

The heroine has passed out and wakes up in darkness:

She looked into the dead unbroken dark and had neither memory nor thought. She was not conscious of where she was, or how she had come there. She was not conscious of anything except the darkness. She did not know if time had passed. There seemed to be no sense that it went by, but it must have done, because the moment when she knew nothing except the darkness had changed into a moment in which she knew her feet were on stone, and that she must not move from where she stood.

She becomes aware that she is afraid and might faint. She is alone in a cellar with a dead body. If you’re going to have a meltdown after encountering a dead body (which is not unreasonable), I think we can all agree that one should try to (a) get away from the corpse, as the killer might still be in the vicinity, and (b) get on a bus or train with Miss Maud Silver. And that is what happens! Miss Silver immediately notices that the young woman is in a state of shock and when they get to the end of the line (Victoria), she insists her new acquaintance drink some tea and eat something.

The only clue to the young woman’s identity is a letter in her purse addressed to Mrs. James Fancourt from Lilian Fancourt, somewhat reluctantly inviting “Dear Anne,” to stay. She thinks the name Anne is familiar, although she has no recollection of James Fancourt. After she tells Miss Silver about her experience in the cellar, Miss Silver urges her to go to Lilian Fancourt, given that she is expected there and, of course, she has nowhere else to go.

It’s not fair to blame Anne for being faint-hearted (i.e., a wimp) because she has gone through a traumatic event and has no one she can recognize or trust. Even when her alleged husband, Jim, appears, he seems a complete stranger. Luckily, he is willing to believe her story about the cellar and has actually met Miss Silver once through Frank Abbott, a Scotland Yard detective who sometimes consults her on cases. He asks Miss Silver to help, and she has been worrying about Anne ever since the bus trip so is ready, willing, and able.

There are many mysteries to unravel: Who was the body in the cellar?  Who killed her - was it Anne?  Is Anne really her name? Is she married to Jim? If so, why has she forgotten him? Can he be trusted? What caused her amnesia and how long will it last? Is someone pursuing her? Why are Jim’s aunts so unhelpful?

This is Miss Silver’s 32nd mystery. I’ve been trying to read and review the entire series chronologically but had to skip from book 4 to 32 when I realized Wentworth had published a book in 1961 (the first Miss Silver, Grey Mask, was published in 1928). I enjoyed it but it is not one of her very best because the mysteries are not based on anything a reader could have guessed, which never seems fair. Nor is Anne and Jim’s relationship at all convincing. Finally, I like Wentworth’s more spirited heroines best. But Wentworth’s description of the dark and terrifying basement makes a great first chapter, and as someone with her own scary basement, I’ll be sure to keep the light on and an eye out for dead bodies.

This review is for the #1961Club, hosted by StuckinaBook and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, in which bloggers are invited to read and review books that were published in a chosen year. It is also my 14th book for the Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge.  Amnesia is an interesting trope - at some point I'll do a post with all my favorite books featuring amnesia . . . .

Title: The Girl in the Cellar
Author: Patricia Wentworth
Publication: HarperPerennial, trade paperback, originally published in 1961
Genre: Mystery
Source: Personal copy