Shelf Control #193: Fool Errant by Patricia Wentworth

Wednesday, the 20th of July, and time for Shelf Control once again! Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. To participate, all you do is pick a book from your TBR pile, and write a post about it–what its about, why you want to read it, when you got it, and such. If you participate, don’t forget to link back to Lisa’s page, and do also leave your links in the comments below as I’d love to check out your picks as well!

For today’s pick, I’m back to my endless pile of classic mysteries, and one by an author I’ve read and enjoyed before, Patricia Wentworth. The book is Fool Errant (1929), the first in the series featuring Benbow Smith. Dora Amy Turnbull (1877-1961) who wrote as Patricia Wentworth was born in Mussoorie, India (a place where I’ve lived 7 years), in 1877. Educated in India and England, she was married to Lt Col Dillion after whose death she moved to Surrey. She then married Lt Col Turnbull. Her first book published in 1910, she went on to write several classic mysteries, including 32 books in the Miss Silver series and 34 others.

In Fool Errant, there are strange goings on at Meade House, not accounted for even by the antics of the eccentric Ambrose Minstrel, the inventor who lives there. His new secretary, Hugo Ross believes all the dark events are centred on him. There are cryptic veiled glances between him and his employer, stealthy footsteps at night, a fortune offered for worthless glasses, and an unknown girl who calls in the dark, part of her statement swallowed by the night. Ross is soon drawn into a plot involving government intrigue and espionage!

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? I’ve read a couple of Wentworth’s book so far, with some of her others waiting on my TBR. From the ones I’ve read, I most enjoyed The Dower House Mystery, which had me hooked right from the start, with a fun storyline, likeable characters, and great atmosphere including the ‘creepy’ touches (thuds on doors at night, doors opening and shutting by themselves, mewing cats), which even if one knows have been set up by the villains of the piece are enjoyable all the same. This book sounds to me like it will be along the same lines, and I think as enjoyable!

Have you read Patricia Wentworth before? Which one/s and any you’d recommend? Looking forward to your thoughts and recommendations!

Cover image and book description from Goodreads; author information via wikipedia

Lisa’s pick this week is The Red Magician by Lisa Goldstein, a work of holocaust literature as well as an entertaining fantasy (a combination that is reminding me of Rena Rossner’s work).

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