Former governess Emma Betony is living in quiet and boring retirement
when two unexpected letters arrive. The first is a lonely hearts
magazine, with an entry ("Lonely Batchelor, age 49, good health,
comfortable income, seeks friendship of unattached lady with view to
matrimony") highlighted by the anonymous sender. The second is an appeal
for help from a former student. Grace Aram is running Makeways, a
struggling boarding school for girls, newly relocated to a site of
former nursing home in Dorset. Grace isn't interested in Miss Betony's
teaching skills-she wants a trusted friend to help identify the culprit
behind a series of troubling events. Two nursing patients have remained
at Makeways and one appears to be the victim of a poisoner. It is not
clear who could be responsible for the ongoing trickle of arsenic found
in Miss Thurloe's drinks- the new abrasive doctor, the pragmatic nurse,
the nervous teaching staff or the high-strung students. During her
investigations, Miss Betony uncovers an overwhelming sense of fear on
the part of Makeways' inhabitants, and clues that lead to the Great
Ambrosio, a charismatic fortune-teller, who seems to have an undue
influence on various teachers, students - and Miss Thurloe.
First published in 1941, Fear and Miss Betony marks the final appearance
of Chief Inspector Dan Pardoe-but it is Miss Betony herself who fights
through fear and solves the case. Contemporary critics proclaimed the
book an instant classic, with an ingenious plot.
