She Came Back - Classic Mystery Review

Goodreads:  She Came Back by Patricia Wentworth

Rating:  Loved It!
Source:  Purchased

Description:  Assumed dead, Lady Anne Jocelyn meets varying degrees of welcome when she returns from Occupied France to her old life in England. Though her husband Sir Philip is not overjoyed to see her, he agrees to a trial reunion. But a murder raises his doubts, and then a second and third send Miss Silver to a curious consideration of life after death.

This is also published under the title The Traveller Returns  

Genre:  Mystery - Classic

Why I Picked This Book:  Patricia Wentworth has been one of my favorite authors for years and Miss Silver is one of my absolute favorite detectives.  This year I'm trying to read all of the Miss Silver books in order this year and this was the next one on the list.

My Impression:  I had read this book probably 10 years or so ago and remembered enjoying it but remembered very little about it.  Not every book ages well but I had some confidence that this one would hold because Miss Silver has yet to let me down (except in Grey Mask but that was her first book so we will give that a pass).  And that confidence was well earned because I absolutely loved this one.  From the beginning the reader is in the dark on if Anne is really Anne as she claimed or an imposter and really the evidence seems to be pointing completely to Anne being Anne.  If she isn't Anne then what could be her motive and how could she know so many personal details that only the real Anne would know.  

This book is a bit different because while Miss Silver does show up about halfway through in her professional capacity she is pulled into the mystery by a coincidence.  The interactions between Miss Silver, DS Frank Abbott and Inspector Lamb cannot be beat and in this book they were a delight.  I cannot get enough of how much Abbott respects Miss Silver and the glee he gets from how grumpy she makes his boss.  

This is one of those mysteries where the less you know going in the better (and for once the blurb doesn't spoil everything!) so I won't say anymore other then that this was an intriguing read that kept me guessing and hooked.  While this is a book in the Miss Silver series the books are only very loosely linked by Miss Silver herself. A character from a previous book may be mentioned or even appear but you don't need to know anything about how they came to know Miss Silver to thoroughly enjoy the book.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  Absolutely!  I've already got the next book ready to go!

Would I Recommend this Book?  Definitely!  This is one of my favorite Miss Silver books so far.