The Case is Closed by Patricia Wentworth – a Miss Silver mystery for the #1937Club

Title: The Case is Closed
Author: Patricia Wentworth
Publication: Warner Books, paperback, originally published in 1937
Genre: Mystery/series
Setting: London and environs

It's the first day of the 1937 Club, hosted by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings to feature reviews of books published in that year.

Description: Hilary Carew was abroad when her cousin Marion’s husband was arrested for murdering his uncle, but was back in London for the horror of Geoffrey’s trial. Despite proclaiming his innocence, he was convicted and has been in prison for a year. Hilary has been living with Marion, getting engaged and then unengaged to Henry Cunningham, who can be dictatorial and condescending. As the story begins, the irrepressible Hilary sees Henry in the distance at the train station, and jumps onto the wrong train to avoid him. This leads to a strange conversation with a woman on the train who recognizes Hilary from the trial and asks how Marion is doing, saying she tried to speak to her. 

Later, Hilary learns this woman, Mrs. Mercer, was the housekeeper who provided some of the evidence that got Geoffrey arrested. Marion is too traumatized even to discuss the situation but Hilary is convinced Mrs. Mercer and her husband know more about the murder than she has said and sets out to find her. When someone tries to kill Hilary, she realizes she may be close to the truth but is frightened and calls Henry for help. Henry thinks his on-again off-again fiancée is too impulsive and he’s right that she refuses to stay home (or get a job – what has she been doing for the last year?) so he sensibly calls in an expert, Miss Maud Silver!

My Impression: This is Wentworth’s second mystery featuring Miss Silver although she is not mentioned until page 113 when the protagonist from Grey Mask recommends her to Henry, a distant cousin. When Henry appears at 16 Montague Mansions, she does her usual trick of getting a skeptical visitor to trust her and Henry tells her what he has learned from Hilary. Although he hopes Miss Silver will investigate the murder and convince Hilary there is nothing for her to pursue, she sternly tells him, as she informs all potential clients:

“I have told you that I can only undertake to provide you with facts – I cannot guarantee that they will be to your liking. Do you still wish to employ me?”

The two women characters in The Case is Closed are much more satisfactory than some of Wentworth’s hand-wringing heroines. Admittedly, Marion is very disturbed over her husband’s conviction and losing her child (miscarriage implied), barely eats, and sleepwalks at night agonizing about his guilt. But she got a job as a mannequin at a fancy dress shop, which is hard work despite being the refuge of the untrained, and Hilary is energetic in her pursuit of any information that might help Geoffrey prove his innocence. When Henry brings Hilary to meet Miss Silver, she is afraid to share the recent revelation that Marion is convinced of her husband’s guilt, but the detective always knows when someone is holding back:

Miss Silver looked at her in a different way. She had the air of a kind aunt – of Aunt Emmeline when she was about to give you five pounds at Christmas. She said in a voice that was nice as well as prim.

“I am a great admirer of Lord Tennyson’s. The mot juste – how often one comes across it in his writings. “Oh, trust me all in all, or not at all.” I find I often have to quote that to my clients. The most complete frankness is necessary.”

I learned a fair amount of Tennyson from reading Patricia Wentworth and Angela Thirkell!

Title: Everyone says the Case is Closed because no one wants Hilary involved in a wild goose chase and/or attracting even more dreadful publicity than Marion has endured. Geoffrey Grey has been in prison for a year of his 25-year sentence. Even Marion is secretly afraid her husband is a murderer. If it weren’t for the coincidence of Hilary running into Mrs. Mercer on the train (and frequently afterwards; Wentworth indulges in many coincidences) and determinedly pursuing her, the case would remain closed.  It is interesting that Marion is spelled with an O rather than an A, which my family does also.

Query: At one point, Henry Cunningham goes to the British Museum to read up on Geoffrey’s case: “He read the inquest and he read the trial.” He may be reading the newspaper coverage and not actual transcripts but wouldn’t the British Library be a more logical place to find these? A pity I didn’t know to ask the archivist at the British Museum when I visited.

Source: Well, this is a little embarrassing. My copy is stickered: "LIGHT BOOKS, Extra-curricular reading. TAKE for pleasure reading, RETURN when finished. Honor system: no checkout required, Perkins Library."  Clearly, I am not yet finished with this book but I suppose I could return it at my next graduate school reunion if I want to regain my honor.

This was my seventh book for Carol’s Cloak and Dagger Challenge.