12. The Chinese Shawl by Patricia Wentworth (Mystery) 278 p.

This is a Miss Silver mystery I enjoyed less than usual. I think it’s because I rely on Patricia Wentworth for comfort reading: old-fashioned intrigue and romance, a country-house atmosphere, and most importantly, a lot of pleasant characters. It’s in the latter that The Chinese Shawl disappointed me a little; there are a lot of very unpleasant people, and very few I actually liked—and those few didn’t appear as much as I would have preferred.

Still, Miss Silver herself is as charming as ever, and she solved an interesting puzzle, so I put down this book pretty satisfied with it.

Pages read: 3,727

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Miss Silver, Patricia Wentworth