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The Case Is Closed (2005)

The Case Is Closed (2005)

Book Info

Genre
Series
Rating
3.92 of 5 Votes: 2
Your rating
ISBN
0340200464 (ISBN13: 9780340200469)
Language
English
Publisher
hodder & stoughton

About book The Case Is Closed (2005)

Miss Maud Hephzibah Silver made her first appearance in 1929, but readers who met her then had an eight year wait before they could meer her again, in 1937’s ‘The Case is Closed’.The story is engaging from the start: Hilary has stepped on to a train, after an argument with her fiancé, Henry, and because she had wanted to make a dramatic exit she had got on to the wrong train. As she watched for the next stop an elderly woman approached her, eager to speak to her quickly, while her husband was out of earshot. Hilary was inclined to think she was mad, but when she asked for news of the friend Hilary was staying with, with real concern, she realised that maybe the woman had a genuine interest. And very real fears.Hilary was staying with her friend, Marion; because Marion was finding it difficult to cope with the aftermath of her husband’s conviction for murder. His was the case that was closed When Hilary described the woman and the incident on the train Marion was able to tell her she was. The woman who had wept in court as she reluctantly gave the evidence that made it inevitable that her husband, Geoff, would be found guilty.Marion had bowed to the inevitable – the loss of her marriage, the loss of the possibility of children, the loss of her position in society – and she slipped away quietly to her job in a dress shop where she was known by a name that was not her own. While she was away Hilary began to examine all of the paperwork about Geoff’s trial, because she was quite that he was innocent.The story played out beautifully, and though I guessed how the mystery would play out the characters and their relationships were engaging and believable. I was involved, and I wanted to be there as events played out.I understood why Marion was very nearly broken, and just wanted to be left alone to drift through what was left of her life. I felt for her. I also understood what Hilary, who was lovely and more than a little headstrong, had to find out more and desperately wanted to do something. I liked her, I loved her spirit and energy, but I worried that she would run in to trouble when she began to make enquiries of her own.Hilary had a very bad scare, and that made her realise that she needed help. She turned to Henry, her sensible, practical estranged fiancé, and he turned to the detective that his good friend – Charles Moray, of ‘Grey Mask’ fame – had recommended. Miss Silver.I was delighted that Miss Silver was just as I had remembered her. She presented herself as a ‘professional aunt, she knitted at a rate of knots, but she was also a very capable detective. She had followed the case, and she had ideas about how to proceed. Her presence was very low-key though, and it almost seemed that she was steering Hilary and Henry to the solution of the mystery.And sure enough, a couple of chapters from the end, Hilary had the same thought that I had a couple of chapters from the beginning!The real strength of this book was the relationship between Hilary and Henry. They had opposite temperaments, but though they squabbled they complemented each other beautifully. I hoped that they’d realise that. And that they’d realise that they loved each other.So this is a mystery that works because the human story is so good, and because the Patricia Wentworth wrote very well, with warmth and with wit. She picked out exactly the right details, there were some lovely touches, and I particularly liked Hilary’s habit of turning her thoughts into rhyming couplets.I’d call this a lovely period piece. And maybe issue a warning that some of the attitudes to relationships between classes and sexes are quite dated.My only disappointment was that the story was a little muddled at the end and that it was wrapped up rather quickly. I would have loved to have seen more of everyone’s reactions to the revelations and to what happened afterwards.I’d have liked to have spent a little more time with Miss Silver too; but I see that there are thirty more books in the series. I’m already looking forward to the next one.

I've always felt that Miss Silver books deserved wider readership. I hope having them in e-book will make this happen. I greatly enjoyed rereading this second book in the series. It's a lovely tale of a young woman who finds herself tangled up in a cold case - of murder. This book has many of the elements of a typical Golden Age mystery. Railroad time tables, bicycling down country roads, butlers, cooks, and deaf neighbors all figure in. However, this isn't Agatha Christie and Miss Silver isn't Miss Marple. MM is generally the main character in her books, doing most of the investigating. Miss Silver only comes into this one at the half-way point, after the stage has been well set and our MC's are deeply involved. And then she only shows up occasionally, when her particular skills and connections are needed. Mostly the case is investigated by Hilary, a close friend of the convicted man's wife. Hilary's former fiance Henry helps out, especially when it comes to buying dinner and paying for cabs, and he's the one who enlists Miss Silver. Also, the relationship between Hilary and Henry is a large focus of the story, to the delight of those like me who enjoy reading a sweet romance with a feisty heroine. If you want your novel to focus only on the mystery you'll be disappointed.This is the kind of book where it doesn't matter if you figured out the mystery or not, you're happy to have spent some time enjoying the ride. Just don't expect a carbon copy of Miss Marple and you'll probably be happy.

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3.5 stars. An enjoyable classic British mystery; I've been thirsting for one with a tad more romance after The Mystery of the Blue Train and this did the job admirably.I've always found that the romances in Christie's mystery novels tend to be intense and capture the imagination but leave very much unsaid - not a negative by any means, particularly since they are crime/mystery novels first and foremost, but once in a while I also enjoy a more straightforward romance as a side plot. I found that in The Case is Closed with Hilary and Henry's youthful romance, which I thought adorable. There is a certain appeal to Henry's fierce desire to protect Hilary - other readers may find it a little outdated and caveman-like, but I didn't think it was overdone here.More than the romance, however, what I liked best was Hilary Carew, the heroine of the piece. Hilary's frequently immature and act-first-think-later, but she's also incredibly charming and spunky with a good head in difficult situations - it's hard not to like her. Together with Henry, they supply a lot of the action in the book and remind me slightly of Tommy and Tuppence. That's never a bad thing.Onto the downsides, which unfortunately includes Miss Silver. In a long series with only a recurring detective, it's quite important to like the detective. Unfortunately we barely got a glimpse of her here; my only impression is that she coughs a lot (it's a wonder she hasn't hacked up a lung, actually) and that she knits constantly for an inexplicable reason. The mystery, too, was so easy to figure out that I knew who the murderer was long before the halfway point. Marion Grey, a key figure in Hilary's motivations for solving the crime, was cold, withdrawn and difficult to sympathize with, while we were never acquainted with the actual villain and it therefore elicited little emotion when their crimes were uncovered. The issue that bothered me the most was the enormous chunks of information that we were given at various points in the story - when Hilary reads the files for the Geoffrey case, the readers were actually greeted with the same material. And that means all the statements taken, the court proceedings, the witness' examinations. These are details that could have been cleverly woven into dialogue or Hilary's internal ruminations, so nothing could displease me more than being tasked with slogging through pages of court proceedings.The last problem aside, however, the rest could all be improved upon in later books and I really did enjoy the light sprinkling of romance with mystery, so I'm looking forward to trying more Miss Silver novels. There's something charming about classic mysteries that modern ones cannot replicate.
—Hannah

The most interesting aspect of this book, to me, was the structure of it. It’s not an inverted mystery, where you know the killer from the beginning, and the story focuses on how the criminal will be arrested, but it did have a twist to its set-up: as it starts, the crime has already been committed quite some time previously, and the accused has already been arrested and is in jail. As in the title, it appears that everything is over and done with; the case is closed.What is happening as the book begins, is that Wentworth is describing the aftermath of these events, and their impact on the people associated with Charles Everton, the man accused of killing his uncle. Charles’s wife Marion is able to function, but just barely. She is supporting herself by working as a model, but consumed with doubts about the man she thought she knew, and tormented by thoughts of his suffering in jail. These difficulties are making her more and more ill as time goes by. Hilary is Marion’s cousin, and the two women are living together. Hilary is also upset at the start of the book, as she has just called off her engagement with her young man, Henry. Distracted, she boards the wrong train, and happens to enter a compartment where she is accosted by a woman who used to work for Charles Everton’s uncle. The conversation that ensues is very confusing to Hilary, but it prompts her to begin to look again at the Everton case, not only to follow up on what she is told on the train, but also in an attempt to try and diminish Marion’s suffering.Miss Silver doesn’t show up until a long way into the story, and in many ways plays a background role to the other characters. Nevertheless, while coughing discreetly and endlessly knitting super-soft baby clothes, Miss Silver is pivotal to what happens. Like Miss Marple, she is a middle-aged spinster who gains a lot by her ability to go unnoticed, and yet unlike Miss Marple, Miss Silver is a career woman, a professional who is running her own detective agency.I have been reading this series in order, as the e-books are very affordable in Kobo format, and I look forward to continuing on. I find Miss Silver a little mystifying, and am curious to see if we ever find out much more about her.
—Andrea

What a wonderful premise for a book - beginning with a closed case of murder and a conviction and imprisonment of one who is hoped to be innocent. The moods of despair mingled with hopefulness was excellently done in this story. Although the first book in this Miss Silver series had her only playing a small role, she begins to come to the forefront as a discerning "inquiry agent", that is a private detective interested in cases where the results are that finally the truth comes out. Miss Silver is slightly reminiscent of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, but I think she is much more clever and not so doddering. I like, too, the element of romance which is not central to the story but brings a bit of anticipated and satisfying happiness at the end.
—Sally

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