“Do you want to make 500 pounds? If you do and are willing to earn it, write to…”
So reads the handbill thrust on Car Fairfax. He is literally down and out, for the soles of his shoes had gone long ago and the uppers show a crack which mean doom to his hopes of a job. And he has just met Isobel: Isobel whom he had not seen for three long, weary years.
But Car’s road back to fortune is beset by mystifying experiences involving his cousin Anna; a precise gentleman in neat clothes and pince-nez; and a job whose sole duties – apparently – consist of dining in a fashionable restaurant. And then he is caught in a web which leads to the unravelling of the mystery surrounding his cousin Anna and finally to danger which threatens both Isobel and himself…
Beggar’s Choice was originally published in 1930. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.
“When I pick up a book by Patricia Wentworth I think, now to enjoy myself – and I always do.” Mary Dell, Daily Mirror
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Patricia Wentworth was born Dora Amy Elles in India in 1877 (not 1878 as has sometimes been stated). She was first educated privately in India, and later at Blackheath School for Girls. Her first husband was George Dillon, with whom she had her only child, a daughter. She also had two stepsons from her first marriage, one of whom died in the Somme during World War I.
Her first novel was published in 1910, but it wasn’t until the 1920’s that she embarked on her long career as a writer of mysteries. Her most famous creation was Miss Maud Silver, who appeared in 32 novels, though there were a further 33 full-length mysteries not featuring Miss Silver-the entire run of these is now reissued by Dean Street Press.
Patricia Wentworth died in 1961. She is recognized today as one of the pre-eminent exponents of the classic British golden age mystery novel.