The Key

Although first published in nineteen forty six The Key by Patricia Wentworth is set at some indeterminate time during the Second World War. An emigre scientist, Michael Harsch, has for years been working on a new super explosive at a laboratory in the small village of Bourne in the rural Home Counties. He completes his final experiment and phones his government contact to report success but that night he commits suicide. Or does he? There are, of course, a multiplicity of suspects but on to the scene comes Miss Silver to point Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Lamb and Detective Sergeant Abbott on to the right conclusion once again. I have yet to read a book by Miss Wentworth that fails to satisfy me. A comfy armchair and a quiet afternoon or evening is all one needs to be transported to a time when the English language was still in common use and characters could express themselves without resorting to obscenities.