The Chinese Shawl

Miss Silver, Book 5

By: Patricia Wentworth

Narrated by: Diana Bishop

Tanis Lyle was one of those passionate women who always get their own way. Her cousin Laura hated her. Most women did. But men found her irresistible and she used them mercilessly. So when Tanis was found murdered there seemed to be any number of suspects on hand. But Miss Silver had her own suspicions…

©1943 Patricia Wentworth Turnbull (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Cozy Indeed

Would you listen to The Chinese Shawl again? Why?

No - as much as I love the Miss Silver books, they don't bear repeating.

Who was your favorite character and why?

If it had been a movie, I'd have enjoyed Tanis and Aunt Agnes

What does Diana Bishop bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Diana Bishop is a consummate narrator. She saves many a book.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No extremes in a cozy!

Any additional comments?

I love the term "cozy". It describes exactly what these books are. When you need a break from some tough reads, it's nice to be bundled up in an English cozy. I retreat to Miss Silver quite often and she always calms me.

I didn’t guess.

What a great book. It was suspenseful and quite fun. I’m so glad I discovered Miss Silver

Return to form for the Miss Silver series

I found the previous installment in the Miss Silver series, “The Lonesome Road,” disappointing. This one marks a return to form. A young woman comes of age and is thrust into the middle of a two-decade family feud. Murder ensues. It’s also an interesting historical document as it is set and was written during WWII, so there are references to rationing, blackouts, etc. You know what you’re getting with a Miss Silver mystery, but it is tiresome that every book has a love story. You know the murderer won’t be either of the lovers, which makes it less interesting (Ngaio Marsh has the same failing - Agatha Christie does not). Diana Bishop is, as always, the perfect narrator.

Slow moving.

The story line is lost among a myriad of descriptive details. Length of people's eyelashes and colors in wallpaper just don't hold my attention.

Only one complaint

The Miss Silver stories are a mixed bag with some being very good and others just okay. I would say this is a pretty good one except for the ineptitude of the police Inspector. Usually the police in Wentworth's novels are shown as fairly capable when they do play a role but not in this book. Russell March, one of Miss Silver's former charges from her time as a governess is the officer in charge. Thankfully he relies on Miss Silver to run the show because he spends his entire time jumping to conclusions and refusing to thoroughly interview all participants. Many, many things he should have found out for himself but doesn't even suspect until clued in by Miss Silver. I did enjoy this story overall and the reader of course, is excellent, but I just wanted to shake the Inspector to stop him from being so useless.

My Favorite Miss Silver So Far

I discovered Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver series about a year ago. They are old fashioned British cozies. My rating is based on how well they fit that genre. Many of the books center on lost relatives or an unusual inheritance. The Chinese Shawl is set in the early 1940's. The details feel authentic and the mystery/murder is intriguing.

If She Was Good Enough for P. G. Wodehouse…

In response, I believe, to a query as to whether he read any modern fiction, an elderly Wodehouse responded, “give me Patricia Wentworth”. Now I know why.

The story unfolds slowly—two hours elapse before any blood is spilt—but not tediously. Everything up to that point is interesting, most of it essential background to the crime, and all of it well-written. The uncertainty and occasional awkwardness of a young person entering the world is perceptively rendered, as are the atmosphere of the house and the characters of its denizens. And the crime is tangled enough to satisfy the most demanding armchair sleuth, explained with the uncomplicated, deeply insightful moral outlook that sets Golden Age detective fiction apart.

In short, give me Patricia Wentworth, too. Especially if she’s being read by Diana Bishop. True, she has some trouble distinguishing voices, most often between Miss Silver and the inspector. But her overall performance is pitched perfectly to her material.

Too much malice

I was so surprised that I disliked this book so much. I’ve loved almost every Miss Silver story; the characters in this one were just too filled with hate and malice for me. I found myself drained and exhausted and irritated as I listened to chapter after chapter of people unloading venom and hostility. Probably a well woven story, I couldn’t get through it.

Mrs Silver is slipping up here!

The characters are good. The plot is gripping...it ends with Mrs. Silver " slipping up!" When she synopsizes in the end...you wonder why she let the victim nearly die if she had the murderer figured out!

Interesting

not really gripping like the Agatha Christie books of Miss Marple or Hercule P . Very good on character analysis of themselves just too shallow for some of the 'bad' guys. I did not like the book