Latter End
A review of Latter End by Patricia Wentworth
The eleventh in Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver series, Latter End was originally published in 1947 and covers familiar Wentworth country. Latter End is a country house owned by Jimmy who two years prior to the commencement of the action married Lois. Lois is a strong-willed woman determined to make her mark on the place and does not care who she upsets. She wants to drive Jimmy’s step sister Ellie Street and family institution Minnie Mercer out by working them to the bone. She has earned the enmity of the long serving cook by driving out the residents of a cottage so that her friends can use it for the weekends. Lois modus operandi is to divide and conquer and Jimmy is either blind to or will not accept her faults. Latter End is not a happy place.
The first signs of trouble are when Lois, who is particular about her diet, suffers occasional bouts of food poisoning. She suspects that someone is trying to poison her and Jimmy is sufficiently concerned to consult Miss Silver on the matter. Maud’s advise is that someone is probably playing a trick on her and that Lois should ensure that she eats and drinks what the others do. Lois particularly likes Turkish coffee after dinner and in a supreme act of self-sacrifice Jimmy agrees to take a cuo with her after each meal. The poisoning incidents stop.
However, not long afterwards, Lois dies, poisoned, in circumstances that could either have been suicide or murder most foul. The previous night Lois was found in a potentially compromising position with Jimmy’s handsome cousin, Antony, whom she would have preferred to have married had he any money. She and Jimmy have a row and barely speak to each other afterwards. Miss Silver is invited by Jimmy to carry out some investigations, fearing that he might have inadvertently driven his wife to her demise. When she arrives at Latter End she finds that her old police sparring partners, Lamb and Abbott, are in situ conducting investigations.
It soon becomes apparent that Lois’s state of mind rules out suicide and that what caused her death was a cup of Turkish coffee laced with morphia. Jimmy had a cup at the same time with no ill effect. Under the terms of Lois’ will she leaves Jimmy with a considerable amount of money which she had inherited when her first husband died suddenly. That together with the row the previous night clearly points the finger of suspicion firmly in Jimmy’s direction.
Lamb conducts his investigations in his own inimitable fashion, quick to grasp the wrong end of any stick that he sees nearby. Miss Silver, though, has the advantage of being assimilated by the household and is able to observe and eavesdrop with good effect. The solution to the mystery is ingenious, although on reflection the only plausible one. In getting there, Miss Silver is assisted by a somnambulist and a couple of servants who happen to have been at the right place at the right time and not to be too shy to spy on their betters. The resolution also casts doubt on an earlier death.
Wentworth writes in an easy and engaging style and keeps the story going. However, with realistically just three suspects it is a little overlong, even if there is the obligatory love interest to divert the reader. The interchanges between an increasingly exasperated Lamb and a gnomic Miss Silver are the highlights of the book which makes for an enjoyable if unchallenging read.
