Saturday, February 25, 2023

Dead or Alive - Classic Mystery Review

Goodreads:  Dead or Alive by Patricia Wentworth

Rating: Loved It! (5 Stars) 
Source:   Purchased

Description:  On the day she plans to divorce him, Meg O'Hara's husband Robin--a handsome British intelligence agent--disappears, and Meg is left to find out whether he is alive or dead.

Genre: Mystery - Classic

Why I Picked This Book:  While I have loved Wentworth's Miss Silver books for years there are a ton of her non-Miss Silver books that I either haven't read or haven't read in years.

My Impression:  Even though this wasn't a Miss Silver books it had all the cozy feels of a Miss Silver Mystery.  Meg has had a rough time of it.  Her husband was every bit as bad as everyone tried to warn her he was and once she has finally gotten away from him and believes him to be dead  a disturbing sequence of events has her questioning that and her sanity.  When her old friend Bill comes back to England from Chile he finds Meg on the verge of a breakdown and financial ruin.  For not only is Meg starting to question her sanity over her husband's possible death she is also unable to get in touch with her only family member - an uncle who is Meg's only hope for any kind of financial help.  

Bill has the advantage of knowing a lot of the same people that Meg's potentially deceased husband knew and tries to sort out just what is happening.  I really liked that he believed Meg and desperately wanted to help her but at the same time didn't just come in and immediately take over the situation and throw money at Meg.  

The mystery was quite a twisty one with part of the figuring out just what the mystery is.  I like that while Meg is intelligent and able to reason even when pushed to her limits.  She trusts Bill but wants to stand on her own.  The reveal was definitely surprising and up until the very end I wasn't quite sure just what would happen.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Of course!  I'm looking forward to reading more of Wentworth's stand alones.

Would I Recommend this Book?  If you are a fan of Agatha Christie - particularly of the books she wrote in the 1920s and 30s this is one I think you'd really enjoy.

5 comments:

  1. Now with a five star rating maybe this one would get me out of my reading slump!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm a sucker for a missing husband book. Nice review!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like a really good mystery and possibly a good love interest.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm still loving these covers. 📗✨

    ReplyDelete