Book Review - Patricia Wentworth's Grey Mask
Grey Mask by Patricia Wentworth
Published by: Open Road Media Mystery and Thriller
Publication Date: 1928
Format: Kindle, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)
When Margaret Langton jilted Charles Moray he fled England vowing never to return. He crossed and recrossed the globe but his love for Margaret has never wavered. Four years have passed since he set foot on English soil and he has only returned because he needs to deal with his inheritance. He doesn't even want to visit his family home. That is where he fell in love with his neighbor Margaret. That is where they planned their future. That is where everything fell apart. But he is unable to sleep and decides to pay his home a visit. He leaves his hotel and strikes out to the family abode. Only the place isn't as uninhabited as it should be. Yes, there is the caretaker and his wife, but this should be their night off and they should have left the door locked. Sneaking into a closet he often used as a child he observes a clandestine meeting taking place. These are definitely criminals. If their choice of venue for the meeting didn't tip Charles off the fact that the apparent ringleader is wearing a grey rubberized mask would have done it. That and the fact that they refer to each other by numbers instead of names. Just as he is about to summon the police the last thing he expected in the world happens. Margaret walks into the room and talks to Grey Mask. The police are right out. Whatever criminal conspiracy or kidnapping these villains are involved in has to be dealt with outside the proper channels in order to save Margaret. He still loves her after all. In fact, could this be why she left him? Talking the next day to one of his friends Charles hears about Miss Silver and how her methods get things done. She will root out the truth, detect the wrongdoers, and save the day. Though Charles isn't too impressed when he meets Miss Silver. But he's holding back and not telling her the whole story, not telling her about Margaret, and she senses this. If he is unwilling to trust her completely then why help him? Perhaps because it's more than just Margaret's life at risk. A young heiress, Margot Standing, is in danger. She is in line to inherit a lot of money. Money that Grey Mask wants. Money that Grey Mask will do anything to get. Can Charles, Margaret, and Margot somehow come together and save themselves from this dastardly villain? Or will he escape, once more, unharmed?
Patricia Wentworth has been on my radar for awhile. Maybe it's because of all the Kindle deals of the day? Because during the start of the pandemic every day seemed to usher in a new Patricia Wentworth deal in my email. Me being me I instead got Grey Mask from my local library to see if Miss Silver was my cup of tea. And after reading the first book I'm still undecided. The reason being is that there really isn't much of Miss Silver to be had. In fact could this be a similar case to when Margery Allingham started writing about Albert Campion? Because he wasn't meant to be the star of the series, Doctor George Abbershaw was the star sleuth in the first "Campion" book, The Crime at Black Dudley. And I think those of us with a passing familiarity of golden age detection all say George who!?! Because seriously, I am ALL about Campion these days and his small appearance at Black Dudley made him a star wherein anytime he wasn't on the page you started to question why you were reading the book in the first place. This lack of Campion was thankfully fixed by Margery Allingham in subsequent books starting with Mystery Mile. But Grey Mask has a similar Miss Silver sized hole. She appears occasionally to be a sounding board or correct certain misconceptions, but it's not really until the end when she appears as a Deus ex machina where she explains she's known what's been going on, or at least suspected it, for some time. Oh really? Because I did too. So there! The plot therefore rests in the hands of the slightly downtrodden bright young things which makes the whole book feel as if Nancy Mitford wrote an episode of The Avengers. And I don't know what to make of that! I love Nancy Mitford and her witty repartee, and I love The Avengers and Mrs. Peel kicking ass and bantering with Steed, but it's like they are oil and water. Both might have banter and both might be fun, but placed together they are too incongruous. It's a bit like whenever Agatha Christie tries to bring in overly elaborate spy plots to the Tommy and Tuppence stories. It kind of works, but not really. So for me and Miss Silver? The verdict's out until I read another volume.
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