Patricia Wentworth

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Patricia Wentworth (aka Dora Amy Dillon Turnbull ; born November 10, 1878 in Masuri , British India , † January 28, 1961 in Camberley , Surrey ) was one of the most important British crime writers of her time.

Live and act

Wentworth was a daughter of General Edmond Elles (1848-1934) and his wife Clara Gertrude, the daughter of General Octavius ​​Rothney (1824-1881). The officers Claude Elles and Hugh Elles were her brothers.

Wentworth spent her school years in England and then returned to her family in British India. She met Colonel George Dillon at a ball in her father's garrison and married him a short time later. In addition to three sons Dillon brought into the marriage, the couple also had a daughter. When her husband died unexpectedly in 1906, she returned to England and settled in Camberley.

During World War I she befriended George Turnbull, an officer, and married him in 1920. Wentworth survived her second husband and died on January 28, 1961 in Camberley.

reception

When Wentworth had settled back in England, she began with her first literary attempts. In 1910 she won the Melrose Prize for the historical novel A Marriage Under The Terror , which is set in the French Revolution. In 1923 she was able to publish her first detective novel, which was to be followed by another 70.

Wentworth's most famous protagonist was Miss Maud Silver : a retired head of house who first tracked down a crime in the 1928 novel Gray Mask and successfully continued this in thirty-one more novels. Miss Silver was among others Agatha Christie as a role model for Miss Marple .

The novels “The Hand out of the Water”, “Miss Silver's Weekend” and “The Chinese Scarf” from the Miss Silver series are, according to crime fiction connoisseur and editor Wino Malski, “described by literary criticism as outstanding and form the basis of everyone Crime Library ”.

Wentworth's Ernest Lamb Trilogy or the Benbow Smith Quartet found just as little a translator as almost all of their individual novels.

Works (selection)

Miss Maud Silver series
  • Gray mask . London 1928.
    • German: The gray mask . List, Munich 1962 (EA Olten 1948)
  • The case is closed . London 1937.
  • Lonesome road . London 1939.
  • Danger Point . London 1941.
  • The chinese shawl . London 1943.
  • The clock strikes twelve . London 1944.
  • The traveler returns . London 1945.
  • Pilgrim's rest . London 1946.
  • Latter end . London 1947.
  • The case of William Smith . London 1948.
  • Eternity ring . London 1948.
  • The Catherine Wheel . London 1949.
    • German: Miss Silver's weekend . Goldmann, Munich 1964 (EA Olten 1961)
  • Miss Silver comes to stay . London 1949.
  • The Brading Collection . London 1950.
  • The ivory dagger . London 1950.
  • Anna, where are you? London 1951.
  • The waterplash . London 1954.
    • German: The hand out of the water . Goldmann, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-442-01102-7 (EA Olten 1959)
  • Ladies' bane . London 1953.
  • Out of the past . London 1955.
  • The Benevent Treasure . London 1956.
    • German: The curse-laden treasure .
  • The Gazebo . London 1958.
  • The listening eye . London 1957.
  • Poison in the pen . London 1957.
    • German: The anonymous letters . Goldmann, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-442-05283-1 (EA Bergisch Gladbach 1985).
  • The fingerprint . London 1959.
    • German: Der Fingerabdruck Goldmann, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-442-05958-5 (EA Bergisch Gladbach 1995)
  • The Alingon inheritance . - London 1958.
  • The girl in the cellar . London 1961.
Ernest Lamb trilogy
  • The blind side . London 1939.
  • Who pays the piper? London 1940.
  • Pursuit of a parcel . London 1942.
Benbow Smith Quartet
  • Fool errant . London 1929.
  • Danger calling . London 1931.
  • Walk with care . London 1933.
  • Down under . London 1937.
Individual historical novels
  • A marriage under the terror . London 1910.
  • The devil's wind . Open Road Media, New York 2015 (EA London 1912)
  • The fire within . Open Road Media, New York 2014 (EA London 1913)
  • Simon Heriot . Melrose Books, London 1914.
  • Queen Anne is dead . Melrose Books, London 1915.
Individual crime novels
  • The red lacquer case . London 1924.
    • German: The red lacquer box . Ullstein, Berlin 1931.
  • Hue and cry . Philadelphia 1927.
  • Blinfold . New York 1935.
  • Mr. Zero . London 1938.
  • Silence in court . Philadelphia 1947.
Children's book
  • A child's rhyme book . Melrose Books, London 1910 (illustrated by Grace H. Morgan).

literature

  • Armin Arnold, Josef Schmidt (Ed.): Reclams Kriminalromanführer . Reclam, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-15-010278-2 , pp. 348-349.
  • Wino Malski: Crime Finder. A guide through the crime jungle for readers and collectors . Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-8309-1132-7 .
  • Jean Swanson, Dean James: Killer Books. A reader's guide to exploring the popular world of mystery and suspense . Berkeley Prime Crime, New York 1998, ISBN 0-425-16218-4 .
  • Klaus-Dieter Walkhoff-Jordan: Bibliography of crime literature 1945–1984 in the German-speaking area . Ullstein, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-548-10325-1 (here Miss Silver's weekend was wrongly assigned the original title The Catherine wheel. 1949).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The title chosen for the US domestic market: In the balance .
  2. ↑ Former title: Miss Silver and the Chinese Scarf .
  3. ↑ Former title: The bell strikes twelve .
  4. ↑ For the US domestic market, the title was chosen: She came back .
  5. ↑ For the US domestic market the title was chosen: Death at deep end .
  6. ↑ Former title: Das Damenhaus .
  7. ↑ For the US domestic market, the title was chosen: The Summerhouse .
  8. ↑ For the US domestic market, the title was chosen: Account rendered .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wentworth, Patricia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Turnbull, Dora Amy Dillon (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British crime writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Masuri , British India
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1961
Place of death Camberley , Surrey