Source: Purchased
Description: There was certainly a heavy air of intrigue and mystery emanating from the old inn high on the cliff top. The Catherine-Wheel had once been a home for pirates and smugglers, but now it looked like it was harbouring a murderer.
It began with an advertisement in the paper requesting descendants of the late innkeeper, Jeremiah Taverner, to stay for a weekend at the inn. They arrived, a mixed assortment, at the family reunion eager to discover the secrets of their ancestry. But one of them was then hideously murdered, bringing the inn's stormy past into frightening focus.
Scotland Yard, already suspicious of drug smuggling in the area, sends Maud Silver to investigate.
Genre: Mystery - Classic
Why I Picked This Book: I'm reading the Miss Silver books this year.
My Impression: This was a bit different from the usual Miss Silver mystery. For starters Miss Silver has not been recommended to some desperate person by a ardent fan and former client. Instead, Chief Inspector Lamb has sent Miss Silver down to investigate rumors of unsavory dealings. And wow are the dealings unsavory! Especially when someone is found murdered in the middle of the night.
There is quite a lot of family drama as the Taverner family has gotten together for a reunion after a multi-generational feud. Secrets are uncovered and bonds are formed (or destroyed) as the days go on. The atmosphere is painted a bit more heavily then Wentworth usually goes for with the inn having a gloomy almost claustrophobic feel which made it a slightly creepier (very slight) then I usually expect.
The mystery was entertaining with lots of twists and turns and featured lots of interaction between Miss Silver, CI Lamb, and Frank Abbott which I can never resist.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Of course! And I need to get reading as there are lots more Miss Silver books then I realized!
Would I Recommend this Book? If you enjoy Miss Marple books or have read and enjoyed other books by Patricia Wentworth I think you would really enjoy it!
Another great Miss Silver read. The inn sounds a little gothic.
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