Dark Threat

During the war, the British countryside is a refuge from the Blitz—but other lethal dangers lurk there . . . “You can't go wrong with Miss Maud Silver” (The Observer).

It is time for Judy to get out of London. Her sister and brother-in-law have just perished in an air raid, leaving her in charge of their four-year-old daughter, and Judy wants no more to do with death. She arranges for work in a piece of the countryside untouched by the war: a charming manor called Pilgrim’s Rest. But it may be that she has more to fear than the Blitz.

When she tells Frank Abbott of her plans, he warns her that strange things have been happening at Pilgrim’s Rest. The family patriarch is recently dead of mysterious circumstances, and his heir has just suffered a series of near-fatal accidents. He cannot sway Judy, for she needs the work. But he does convince the governess-turned-detective Maud Silver to follow Judy to the village, to be on hand in case country living turns dangerous.

Praise for Patricia Wentworth

“Miss Wentworth is a first-rate storyteller.” —The Daily Telegraph

“Patricia Wentworth has created a great detective in Miss Silver, the little old lady who nobody notices, but who in turn notices everything.” —Paula Gosling, CWA Gold Dagger Award winner

“Some of the best examples of the British country-house murder mystery.” —Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine