The Listening Eye

“People do these things in melodrama, not in real life.” — Lucius Bellingdon

“Can you pick up a newspaper without finding material for a melodrama? The passions of greed and lust are essentially crude. They do not change.” — Miss Silver


Dense and complex, atmospheric of village life and all the twisting relationships such claustrophobic surroundings give birth to, and filled with the charm of a burgeoning romance, I’ve always felt The Listening Eye to be underrated among Wentworth's Miss Silver entries. The opening is sterling, Wentworth taking the time to set up the circumstance of a murder that creates sympathy for the victim, and a need to know the why and who as relationships and situations are slowly revealed. The show more ending has an ironic twist, and the romance is everything the reader hoped for when all is revealed. Typical of Wentworth’s style, the unobtrusive, Tennyson quoting, ever knitting Miss Silver doesn’t even appear until chapter four, when Paulina Paine must tell someone what she’s “overheard”.

The overheard is in quotes, because Paulina was buried beneath a bomb in ’41 during the war, stuck for twenty-four hours in the debris. She lost her hearing, but lip-reads. She lip-reads the conversation of two men at a distance in a gallery as she gazes upon a portrait of her painted by young David Moray. She can’t get it all, but there is enough to greatly alarm her. Worse, is that through happenstance, one of the men has discovered she can lip-read, and she knows it.

Enter Miss Silver. Regretfully unable to persuade Paulina to go to the police, because the woman feels like she’ll be ridiculed, Miss Silver’s regret becomes palpable when Paulina is run over by a bus. And then Arthur Hughes is murdered while transporting the Bellingdon necklace. But he was not meant to be the courier, another man was. A snuff box, and the general knowledge that the Lucius Bellingdon’s necklace was to be transported at that time, create a picture with too many suspects, and unclear motives.

Rich in character, and dense with various tangental goings on by a number of people, all of it will eventually help Miss Silver figure out this mystery. This entry in the Miss Silver series is actually quite involved beneath the cozy-style trappings. The charming and slow-developing romance between young Sally Foster and David Moray plays out as an intriguing backdrop to mystery and murder. Miss Silver will insinuate herself into this world when she takes the place of the murdered courier. Lucius Bellingdon is himself involved in a romance with lovely Annabel Scott, and is dealing with fiery daughter Moira. Racy photos which could lead to blackmail, another attempted murder, and the man Arthur’s aunt, Minnie, saw speaking with Mr. Pegler are just a scant few of the tiles in a very involved and dangerous mosaic.

Miss Silver’s eventual hypothesis is startling, because the reader would never have thought of it. A dangerous plan is set in motion to trap a killer. It creates an exciting ending, with a very ironic twist. Justice is brutal in this one, and comes from an unexpected direction. As in nearly all the Miss Silver entries, she is seemingly in the background, rather than front-and-center. Inspector Frank Abbott is around, but not as much as in some. The mystery is allowed to unravel through the various characters, as the observant yet unobtrusive Miss Silver takes it all in. Both the mystery and the romantic conclusion in this intricate and warmly woven tapestry of murder and romance from 1957 are top-notch for this genre. An excellent and enjoyable read, especially the ending.

“It came into Miss Silver’s mind that there was always a place for returning and repentance.” show less

Paulina Paige may be deaf, but she can understand what people are saying. While visiting an Art gallery, she may have been out of range to hear of the crime two men were discussing on the other end of the gallery. Her excellent lip reading skills make up for her deafness.

Concerned about what she heard/read, she seeks out Miss Silver for advice. It is one of the last things she does.

Miss Silver is later called on by Lucius Bellingdon for her investigative services, when an extremely valuable necklace is stolen and his assistant is murdered while transporting the piece. He invites her to visit his country home under a guise of assisting Bellingdon’s secretary, while she investigates.

Spending time at the Bellingdon estate, Miss Silver show more finds the possible links between the current guests, family and Paulina Paige. Someone has plans to acquire that necklace along with more. Her appearance and behaviour allows her to blend into the surroundings while hearing conversations leading her to solving the mystery.

Another enjoyable episode of the Miss Silver series. show less

This is one of my favorite Miss Silver mysteries... I am not totally sure why, but for some reason the premise of the deaf woman "overhearing" a conversation just seems so interesting to me.

A Miss Silver mystery first published in 1957.
"No one could have guessed that Paulina Paine was stone-deaf. Her ability to read lips was astonishing. So the two men who met that day during the showing of a new art exhibition did not realise until it was too late that the middle-aged tweedy figure sitting quietly out of earshot had understood every word they said. Paulina went to see Miss Silver, but it was the last thing she did..." - jacket notes, Hodder and Stoughton 1990 edition.
A pretty good traditional mystery.