Dora Amy Turnbull (formerly Dillon, néeElles; 15 October 1877[1] – 28 January 1961[2]), known by pen namePatricia Wentworth, was a British crime fiction writer.
Patricia Wentworth
Wentworth, c. 1928
Born
Dora Amy Elles (1877-11-10)10 November 1877[1] Mussoorie, British India
She and her first husband, Lt. Col. George Frederick Horace Dillon, had one daughter. She also became stepmother to Dillon's three sons, two of whom died during World War I.[1] After Dillon's death, in 1906, she settled in Camberley, Surrey. In 1920, she married Lt. Col. George Oliver Turnbull.[4] One of her stepsons who died in World War I had Wentworth as a middle name, after Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, and she adopted Wentworth as her pen name.
Dora Amy Turnbull died on 28 January 1961, aged 83. Her estate was valued at £24 561.[5]
Careeredit
Wentworth wrote a series of 32 crime novels in the classic whodunit style, featuring Miss Maud Silver, a retired governess and teacher who becomes a professional private detective, in London, England. Miss Silver works closely with Scotland Yard, especially Inspector Frank Abbott, and is fond of quoting the poet Tennyson. Miss Silver is sometimes compared to Jane Marple, the elderly detective created by Agatha Christie.[6]
"Miss Silver is well known in the better circles of society, and she finds entree to the troubled households of the upper classes with little difficulty. In most of Miss Silver's cases there is a young couple whose romance seems ill fated because of the murder to be solved, but in Miss Silver's competent hands the case is solved, the young couple are exonerated, and all is right in this very traditional world."[7]
Wentworth also wrote 34 books outside that series. She won the Melrose prize in 1910 for her first novel A Marriage Under The Terror, set in the French Revolution.[8]
What Became of Anne, 1926. Serialised, Dundee Courier, 1932
Red Danger (USA: Red Shadow), 1932
Seven Green Stones (USA: Outrageous Fortune), 1933
Devil-in-the-Dark (USA: Touch And Go), 1934
Fear by Night, 1934
Red Stefan, 1935
Blindfold, 1935
Hole and Corner, 1936
Mr Zero, 1938
Afraid to Love, 1938. Serialised, Dundee Courier, 1932
Run!, 1938
Unlawful Occasions (USA: Weekend with Death), 1941
Beneath the Hunter's Moon, Poems, 1945
Silence in Court, 1947
The Pool of Dreams: Poems, 1953
Referencesedit
^ abcd"Editorial Reviews: About the Author". Down Under (Paperback ed.). Dean Street Press. 22 April 2016. ISBN 978-1911095514.
^"Stories, Listed by Author: Patricia Wentworth". The Fiction Mags Index. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
^"SIR EDMOND ELLES, 85, BRITISH GENERAL, DIES; In 1918, at Age of 70, HeI Pierced Hindenburg Line in u i Tank -- Served in India". The New York Times. 7 January 1934. p. 30. Retrieved 1 April 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^"Turnbull Clan Genealogy Collection - Person Page 2,965". www.library.turnbullclan.com. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
"Patricia Wentworth". Fantastic Fiction. Books by Wentworth.
"Stories, Listed by Author: WENTWORTH, PATRICIA; pseudonym of Dora Amy Dillon Turnbull, (1878-1961) (chron.)". The FictionMags Index. Archived from the original on 19 February 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Three published magazine stories by Wentworth.
Patricia Wentworth: An Introduction and Series Guide at Early Bird Books