The Benevent Treasure

Patricia Wentworth has created another of her classic country house mysteries. The country house in question is Underhill and it was built in the sixteenth century by Ugo Benevento, an Italian nobleman, who has fled his native land bringing with him a considerable fortune in plate and jewels. In England he marries an heiress, changes his name to Benevent and builds Underhill in which he hides his jewels hence The Benevent Treasure. The action of the story takes place in what appears to be the late nineteen forties when Candida Sayle is invited to stay with her great aunts the Benevent sisters. However, what appears to be an act of generosity to a relative in reduced circumstances turns out to be a plot that places Candida in fear of her life. Fortunately a knight errant is at hand to come to her aid and, combined with her fortitude in the face of danger, she wins through in the end. The final scene where she refuses to benefit from the treasure because of the circumstances by which it came to her show the difference in morality between the age in which the book was written and the present day. When one considers that this gap is a mere half century it is a telling comment on the times in which we live.