Pilgrim's Rest

By: Patricia Wentworth

Narrated by: Diana Bishop

The two Miss Pilgrims, Columba and Janette, think it's unwise to leave their fine ancestral home, Pilgrim's Rest. When their brother suffers a fatal fall only days after talking about selling it, and his son barely escapes two near-fatal accidents, they suspect it's deadly to leave. Surely Miss Silver can determine why the house hates to be empty.

©1948 Patricia Wentworth (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

The best Wentworth so far!

I’ve just discovered Wentworth, thanks to ChatGPT, and have enjoyed each of the books I’ve listened to thus far. This one, as the title of my review says, is the best so far. The character development is excellent, and the storyline is very engaging. As an added bonus, there is a nice little twist at the end. I happily recommend this book!

Well plotted and enjoyable

This was a good tale with good characters even if the body count was a little over the top. It started with 4 and went up from there. Still I enjoyed PWs characters and interactions. Sometimes I think I’m still listening to Miss Marple mystery and then I notice Miss Silver’s less sympathetic tone.

Great mystery

I enjoy Miss Silver mysteries. Very good without bad language or sex. This is one of my favorites and have enjoyed it more than once.

my favorite Patricia Wentworth book

The characters have more much complexity than Patricia Wentworth typically creates. I love this book!

A delightful, entertaining cozy

This delightful, entertaining cozy from Patricia Wentworth took me by surprise. Reminiscent of the Miss Marple mysteries I have read, Ms. Wentworth has created a village mystery where an intelligent, charming, and very feminist retired governess solves the crime. This novel, published in 1948, is quite modern in its treatment of women. All the women characters are intelligent, honest, hard working, and independent while all the men are badly behaved, irrational or pretty slow witted. Admittedly, the plot is a bit convoluted and also not really believable. Still it is fun to figure out everything along the way. Ms. Wentworth presents lots of minor puzzles which get solved soon after they are raised which I rather enjoy instead of the more modern way of making you wait till the last 10 pages to really know what is going on. As the clues mount, you will be able to solve the mystery along with Miss Silver.

The prose throughout is a real pleasure. For example, when describing the book-lined study at the rather ramshackle eponymous mansion Pilgrim's Rest, she writes "The books, handsomely bound editions of an earlier day, were obviously in dignified retirement. Thackeray, Dickens, Charles Reed, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and surprisingly the entire works of Mrs. Henry Wood, all had the air of having fallen asleep upon the shelves." Although the last couple of hours drag a bit, listening at 1.5x speed solves that problem. The reader has a wonderful, expressive, clear and soothing voice. Since Audible has so many of her titles on offer, I feel spoiled for choice.