The Watersplash - Patricia Wentworth

'A watersplash is a shallow ford in a stream.'

In my opinion, Miss Silver is just as good as Miss Marple.  They share many similarities:  they both knit, they're both little old ladies, they're usually neatly but not fashionably dressed, they're observant and wise in the ways of human nature, and they're not obvious, so they're often underestimated.

In a village in England, a young man, long thought dead, returns to find that his wealthy uncle, believing him dead, has left his riches and estate to the young man's uncle.  Even though he's wealthy in his own right, his uncle is not sharing.  But then a rumor starts circulating, a rumor of a subsequent will leaving everything to the young man.

The thing is, one of the two witnesses to the will is dead  -  and the other drowns in the watersplash.  A woman who was nurse to the ailing and then dead man tells Miss Silver about the second will.  The woman has designs on the possible heir and wants Miss Silver's advice.  Miss Silver advises telling the truth to the lawyers.  But then the woman drowns in the 'shallow ford in a stream'.  Too much for coincidence, thinks Miss silver, and goes to the village to find out for herself.

There's nastiness in the village, a lot of secrets, and several people out to get what they can for themselves.  It takes someone like Miss Silver to unravel the web of deception.

This was a satisfying cozy English mystery.  Thank goodness there are many more Miss Silver mysteries for the chilly winter days coming up.