Miss Silver is a fictional detective featured in 32 novels by British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 novelist Patricia Wentworth

Patricia Wentworth

Patricia Wentworth was a British crime fiction writer.She was born in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India . She was educated privately and at Blackheath High School in London. After the death of her first husband, George F. Dillon, in 1906, she settled in Camberley, Surrey...

.

Character

Miss Maud Silver is a retired governess

Governess

A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...

-turned-private detective. Like Miss Marple

Miss Marple

Jane Marple, usually referred to as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christie's crime novels and in twenty short stories. Miss Marple is an elderly spinster who lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur detective. She is one of the most famous...

, Miss Silver's age and demeanor make her appear harmless. Some admire the character, believing that "while Miss Marple may receive ten times the attention as Miss Silver, ... the woefully neglected Miss Silver is the real deal - a professional investigator and a stand-up woman, a true forerunner of all future female private eyes." Others disagree, claiming that the character is "has none of the credibility of ... Miss Marple.... Her spinsterish appearance is inconsistent with her sensational behavior and also with the far-fetched plots of the novels she features in."

Novels

• Grey Mask, 1928
• The Case is Closed, 1937
• Lonesome Road, 1939
• Danger Point (U.S. title: In the Balance), 1941
• The Chinese Shawl, 1943
• Miss Silver Intervenes (U.S. title: Miss Silver Deals with Death), 1943
• The Clock Strikes Twelve, 1944
• The Key, 1944
• The Traveller Returns (U.S. title: She Came Back), 1945
• Pilgrim's Rest (also published as Dark Threat), 1946
• Latter End, 1947
• Spotlight (U.S. title: Wicked Uncle), 1947
• Eternity Ring, 1948
• The Case of William Smith, 1948
• Miss Silver Comes to Stay, 1949
• The Catherine Wheel, 1949
• Through the Wall, 1950
• The Brading Collection (also published as Mr. Brading's Collection), 1950
• The Ivory Dagger, 1951
• Anna, Where Are You? (also published as Death at Deep End), 1951
• The Watersplash, 1951
• Ladies' Bane, 1952
• Out of the Past, 1953
• Vanishing Point, 1953
• The Silent Pool, 1954
• The Benevent Treasure, 1953
• The Listening Eye, 1955
• Poison in the Pen, 1955
• The Gazebo (also published as The Summerhouse), 1956
• The Fingerprint, 1956
• The Alington Inheritance, 1958
• The Girl in the Cellar, 1961