A Final Post for Dean Street December

This month, Liz of Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home has been hosting Dean Street December. As I have not finished my current book, I thought I would highlight some of my reading from Dean Street Press:

Dear Hugo by Molly Clavering (1955). Sara Monteith, who lost her fiancé in the war, decides to make a new home for herself in a small town in the Scottish Borders called Ravenskirk. Her household soon includes a 13-year-old boy cousin and a dog, both of which help her make new friends and a home for herself.  My review.

The Native Heath by Elizabeth Fair (1954). Settling into a new home is a common plot but this book is particularly amusing as the heroine, Julia Dunstan, has very specific ideas regarding how she wants those around her to behave and they often disappoint her (story of my life!). The descriptions of daily life in a small town are entertaining and I learned that few homes in Britain had refrigerators in the 1950s.  I asked my mother about her recollections of refrigerators and she says there was always one in her home but she remembers that elderly relatives had an "ice box" to keep things cold.  My review. 

A Chelsea Concerto by Frances Faviell (1959). This is a memoir that provides a fascinating look at what daily life was like during the London Blitz for charming Frances Faviell, an artist living in Chelsea who manages to continue painting (more or less as the bombs fall) while working as a volunteer nurse at a hospital and keeping peace among the local refugees.  My review.

Death in the Grand Manor by Anne Morice (1970). This is the first book about actress Tessa Crichton, a light-hearted series launch enlivened by the chemistry between Tessa and the detective investigating the case.  I read this series many years ago and it was fun to be reintroduced to it.  My review.

Clothes-Pegs by Susan Scarlett (1939). Noel Streatfeild’s juvenile fiction have been favorites for as long as I can remember and it was a real treat to read this adult novel published under a pseudonym. It features one of her typical affectionate families that manages its finances very carefully to get by and how everything changes when the eldest daughter becomes a fashion model and is catapulted into an alien world.  My review.

D.E. Stevenson is an author I found in my local libraries years ago (probably my mother introduced me to her books). Before Dean Street and Furrowed Middlebrow began reprinting them, I would check them out from various locations to ensure they circulated and would not be discarded. Below are four that I had not read previously:

Anna and Her Daughters by D.E. Stevenson (1958). As one of three sisters, I can’t help noticing how often DES’s books feature a mother and her three daughters (however, we are all delightful, unlike some of her characters). Here, the family is recovering from the unexpected death of their husband/father and, finding herself in reduced circumstances, Anna decides to return to Scotland and create a modest home for her family. My review.

The Fair Miss Fortune by D.E. Stevenson (2011). Jane Fortune moves to Dingleford Cottage with her old nurse as chaperone, with the goal of opening a tea shop, and immediately has two charming suitors vying for her attention. This was not published until after DES’s death because it is more of a novella than a full-length book and she probably should have expanded it, but it was still very enjoyable. My review.

Kate Hardy by D.E. Stevenson (1947). Kate Hardy is another of those heroines who moves to the country to make a new life for herself and soon has so many visitors and suitors that it consumes too much of her time. Delightful as all her books but I found this especially interesting because it deals more overtly with class issues as some of the locals are surprised by Kate’s egalitarian friendships. My review.

The Musgraves by D.E. Stevenson (1960). Cozily living in the Cotswolds, The Musgraves are another DES family consisting of an attractive widow and three daughters, who have enough money for a servant or two but still need to be careful of expenses. Jane, the youngest daughter, surprises her family by getting a job with a well-known author.  My review.

My Patricia Wentworth collection is nearly complete, although for many years included several photocopies of obscure titles. Wentworth is best known for her Miss Silver books but the first three below are standalones from early in her career while the final four are part of a lesser-known series featuring Benbow Smith, an eccentric quasi-government official, well-connected and able to assist protagonists in trouble.

Anne Belinda (1927). Where is Anne Belinda? She has disappeared - and every time John Waveney, newly returned from WWI, mentions her name there is an ominous silence. John feels a strange sense of loyalty to the one person who sent him off to war with a kind word, and he becomes determined to find out what kind of trouble she is in and find a way to assist her.  My review.

The Black Cabinet (1925). Chloe Dane is miserable as an impoverished dressmaker’s assistant and is astonished when she learns she has inherited Danesborough, her family’s magnificent country estate. But there are now secrets in the house that threaten her life.  My review.

Outrageous Fortune (1933). Jim Randal has been accused of stealing the Van Berg emeralds and his amnesia is considered very suspicious. Only his cousin Caroline Leigh believes he is innocent and being framed for the theft but her investigation brings her into grave danger.  My review.

The Benbow Smith Series

Fool Errant – Benbow Smith #1 (1929). Hugo Ross is grateful to have been hired as the new secretary to inventor Ambrose Minstrel but soon realizes he is being set up to take the blame if Minstrel’s secret work for the government is compromised. Who can he turn to? Why, his brother-in-law’s knowledgeable uncle, Mr. Benbow Collingwood Horatio Smith, a gentleman with useful connections to the government.  My review.

Danger Calling – Benbow Smith #2 (1931). When Marian Rayne breaks her engagement to Lindsay Trevor a few days before the wedding, he is devastated. Everything is suddenly meaningless, including his job at a respected publishing house, which means it’s exactly the right moment for the mysterious Benbow Collingwood Horatio Smith to ask, “How would you like to die for your country?”  My review.

Walk With Care – Benbow Smith #3 (1933). Rosalind Denny is still in shock that her husband threw away a happy marriage and a promising political career by committing suicide 18 months ago. But Rosalind doesn't believe that Gilbert's drowning was a suicide and hopes to prove it with the help of Gilbert’s former secretary, Jeremy.  My review.

Down Under – Benbow Smith #4 (1937). After Oliver Loddon’s fiancée disappears the day before the wedding, Loveday Leigh, the ditzy heroine of Fool Errant, tries to help Oliver by sending him to Mr. Benbow Collingwood Horatio Smith, a mysterious gentleman who is affiliated with the Foreign Office. Oliver doesn’t expect much from the eccentric Mr. Smith and his parrot, Ananias, but when he mentions the name of the woman Rose Anne was visiting before she vanished, Mr. Smith takes notice and sends him to investigate a conspiracy.  My review. 

I think it would have been faster to finish my book and write the review.  Oh well.  

Happy New Year!  I hope 2023 will be better for everyone.