Grey Mask
Ratings3
Average rating4
15
Ratings3
Average rating4
The first of the classic mysteries featuring governess-turned-detective Miss Silver, who investigates a deadly conspiratorial ring.
Charles Moray has come home to England to collect his inheritance. After four years wandering the jungles of India and South America, the hardy young man returns to the manor of his birth, where generations of Morays have lived and died. Strangely, he finds the house unlocked, and sees a light on in one of its abandoned rooms. Eavesdropping, he learns of a conspiracy to commit a fearsome crime. Never one for the heroic, Charles’s first instinct is to let the police settle it. But then he hears her voice. Margaret, his long lost love, is part of the gang. To unravel their diabolical plot, he contacts Miss Silver, a onetime governess who applies her reason to solve crimes and face the dangers of London’s underworld.
Series
22 primary booksMiss Silver is a 22-book series with 22 primary works first released in 1928 with contributions by Patricia Wentworth.
Reviews with the most likes.
Grey mask is the first in a long series of Miss Silver stories, and is not a typical example. Miss Silver plays a minor role in this story, but gradually becomes more important in the later novels. All of the stories are charming in their old-fashioned style. Each one has a heroine who ends up in peril; a hero who assists Miss Silver in bringing about a happy ending; a scheming villain; usually an admiring policeman left floundering in Miss Silvers wake, and plenty of excitement along the way. The order of reading doesn't matter greatly. As far as I can recall, the only notable change during the whole series is that her first inside-contact in the police force is swapped for a younger model after a few books. It is easy to confuse one book with another after you have read a lot of them, as they don't vary greatly in style or plot device. But that isn't a bad thing for me; they are my go-to comfort-read, or preferably comfort-listen. If you can get the audio books, brilliantly read by Diana Bishop, you will love them. She really gets the period tone and voices just right. I listen to them all again every now and then, on long car journeys or when I'm under the weather. They are the perfect cozy mystery treat.
