What do You think about The Case Is Closed (2005)?
3.5 stars. An enjoyable classic British mystery; I've been thirsting for one with a tad more romance after The Mystery of the Blue Train and this did the job admirably.I've always found that the romances in Christie's mystery novels tend to be intense and capture the imagination but leave very much unsaid - not a negative by any means, particularly since they are crime/mystery novels first and foremost, but once in a while I also enjoy a more straightforward romance as a side plot. I found that in The Case is Closed with Hilary and Henry's youthful romance, which I thought adorable. There is a certain appeal to Henry's fierce desire to protect Hilary - other readers may find it a little outdated and caveman-like, but I didn't think it was overdone here.More than the romance, however, what I liked best was Hilary Carew, the heroine of the piece. Hilary's frequently immature and act-first-think-later, but she's also incredibly charming and spunky with a good head in difficult situations - it's hard not to like her. Together with Henry, they supply a lot of the action in the book and remind me slightly of Tommy and Tuppence. That's never a bad thing.Onto the downsides, which unfortunately includes Miss Silver. In a long series with only a recurring detective, it's quite important to like the detective. Unfortunately we barely got a glimpse of her here; my only impression is that she coughs a lot (it's a wonder she hasn't hacked up a lung, actually) and that she knits constantly for an inexplicable reason. The mystery, too, was so easy to figure out that I knew who the murderer was long before the halfway point. Marion Grey, a key figure in Hilary's motivations for solving the crime, was cold, withdrawn and difficult to sympathize with, while we were never acquainted with the actual villain and it therefore elicited little emotion when their crimes were uncovered. The issue that bothered me the most was the enormous chunks of information that we were given at various points in the story - when Hilary reads the files for the Geoffrey case, the readers were actually greeted with the same material. And that means all the statements taken, the court proceedings, the witness' examinations. These are details that could have been cleverly woven into dialogue or Hilary's internal ruminations, so nothing could displease me more than being tasked with slogging through pages of court proceedings.The last problem aside, however, the rest could all be improved upon in later books and I really did enjoy the light sprinkling of romance with mystery, so I'm looking forward to trying more Miss Silver novels. There's something charming about classic mysteries that modern ones cannot replicate.
—Hannah
The most interesting aspect of this book, to me, was the structure of it. It’s not an inverted mystery, where you know the killer from the beginning, and the story focuses on how the criminal will be arrested, but it did have a twist to its set-up: as it starts, the crime has already been committed quite some time previously, and the accused has already been arrested and is in jail. As in the title, it appears that everything is over and done with; the case is closed.What is happening as the book begins, is that Wentworth is describing the aftermath of these events, and their impact on the people associated with Charles Everton, the man accused of killing his uncle. Charles’s wife Marion is able to function, but just barely. She is supporting herself by working as a model, but consumed with doubts about the man she thought she knew, and tormented by thoughts of his suffering in jail. These difficulties are making her more and more ill as time goes by. Hilary is Marion’s cousin, and the two women are living together. Hilary is also upset at the start of the book, as she has just called off her engagement with her young man, Henry. Distracted, she boards the wrong train, and happens to enter a compartment where she is accosted by a woman who used to work for Charles Everton’s uncle. The conversation that ensues is very confusing to Hilary, but it prompts her to begin to look again at the Everton case, not only to follow up on what she is told on the train, but also in an attempt to try and diminish Marion’s suffering.Miss Silver doesn’t show up until a long way into the story, and in many ways plays a background role to the other characters. Nevertheless, while coughing discreetly and endlessly knitting super-soft baby clothes, Miss Silver is pivotal to what happens. Like Miss Marple, she is a middle-aged spinster who gains a lot by her ability to go unnoticed, and yet unlike Miss Marple, Miss Silver is a career woman, a professional who is running her own detective agency.I have been reading this series in order, as the e-books are very affordable in Kobo format, and I look forward to continuing on. I find Miss Silver a little mystifying, and am curious to see if we ever find out much more about her.
—Andrea
What a wonderful premise for a book - beginning with a closed case of murder and a conviction and imprisonment of one who is hoped to be innocent. The moods of despair mingled with hopefulness was excellently done in this story. Although the first book in this Miss Silver series had her only playing a small role, she begins to come to the forefront as a discerning "inquiry agent", that is a private detective interested in cases where the results are that finally the truth comes out. Miss Silver is slightly reminiscent of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, but I think she is much more clever and not so doddering. I like, too, the element of romance which is not central to the story but brings a bit of anticipated and satisfying happiness at the end.
—Sally
