Patricia Wentworth (November 10, 1878 Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India - January 28, 1961) was the pen name of a British crime fiction writer. She was born Dora Amy Elles in what was then the British Raj. 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. She married George Oliver Turnbull in 1920 and they had one daughter. She is now famous for her series of 32 crime novels (classic-style whodunnits) featuring Miss Maud Silver, the first of which was published in 1928, and the last of which was published in the year of her death. Miss Silver is sometimes compared to Jane Marple, the elderly detective created by Agatha Christie. Miss Silver is a retired governess who becomes a private detective. She works closely with Scotland Yard, especially Inspector Frank Abbott. She is fond of quoting the poet Tennyson. Wentworth also wrote 34 books outside of that series.
