The Gazebo (Miss Silver Mystery #27)

The Gazebo
by Patricia Wentworth
Rating: ★★★★½
Series: Miss Silver Mystery #27
Publication Date: January 1, 1958
Pages: 255
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Hodder And Stoughton

For Althea Graham, suffering the whims of her malevolent invalid of a mother, the old family home is a prison. So when two strangely competitive offers for the Graham's house are made to her it suggests that house may hold some dark rewarding secret.

Then old Mrs Graham is found murdered in the gazebo . . .

Best Miss Silver I’ve read yet!  Though, to be fair, I’ve only read 2-3 others, so I’m not in a position to judge too objectively thus far.  Still, a great mystery with rational characters (unlike her earliest books) and while there’s still a romance at the hinge of the story, it’s not a soppy one.  Mostly.

There were obvious references to previous books, but no spoilers; tangential characters in earlier mysteries are now the focus of this one.  The murder could not have happened to a more deserving victim, and generally, the plotting was rather weak, not that I think about it.  The murderer becomes rather obvious so that there’s no real reveal, just a crises averted and justice served.  There’s also a connection to the Gordon Riots which lends an air of fun to the story, though when I write it like that it doesn’t make sense.  Nothing fun about the Gordon Riots, except the link to the present day story is, but I can’t be more specific than that without spoiling.

A fun, traditional mystery.