The Key

A scientist flees Germany—but meets death in a little English village. A classic British mystery featuring Miss Silver from “a first-rate storyteller” (The Daily Telegraph).

Michael Harsch’s life has never been easy. A German Jew, he fled his country when Hitler came to power, escaping the concentration camps by the skin of his teeth. His wife and daughter were not so lucky, and he vowed revenge on the Fuhrer through science. He set to work on a marvelous new explosive that, in the hands of the British army, could silence the German guns forever. But on the eve of his great triumph, the scientist is struck down.

The government asks Miss Silver, the dowdy detective, to help solve the murder and recover the valuable explosive. Was Harsch killed by a half-mad opponent to the war effort, or was it one of Hitler’s undercover agents who pulled the trigger?

Praise for Patricia Wentworth

“You can’t go wrong with Miss Maud Silver.” —The Observer

“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