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SensualPoet · 08-22-2011, 07:36 PM

This year Chief Inspector Reg Wexford celebrated his 23rd novel (The Vault), if one may put it that way for a fictional character; and he was "born" in Ruth Rendell's 1964 published From Doon With Death. It was also, more remarkably, Rendell's first novel which emerged full shaped, well plotted, with believable (and memorable) characters.

Margaret Parsons is the rather non-descript wife of a rather non-descript employee of a small English town hardware store who is barely able to make ends meet. But when she doesn't come home one afternoon, her husband asked Mike Burden, a neighbour, for help: Burden is Chief Inspector Reg Wexford's right-hand man. It's not long before fear turns to grief as Margaret's body turns up in a nearby wood, quite dead. As the investigation progresses, the facts of her final hours are peeled back, onion skin like, and as other local residents come within the orbit of the investigation, new clues emerge pointing to teenage love affairs re-ignited. Particularly mysterious, is Doon who authoured several frankly amorous inscriptions in the flyleaves of Margaret's packed away books of poetry. Now Doon appears to have re-entered her life ... with love to be rekindled or vengeance?

Although police procedurals are commonplace today, this early outing snaps along at a goodly pace, without unnecessarily forensic details or gore to bog down the storyline. I admit I had a pretty strong clue who the killer might be by about the book's mid-point, it in no way interfered with the pleasure of the working out and final revelations. This is a first rate crime fiction tale that sets one up, mouth watering, for the next in the series.

Available for Kindle or Kobo for about $9.

08-22-2011, 07:36 PM	#424
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	Ruth Rendell - From Doon With Death This year Chief Inspector Reg Wexford celebrated his 23rd novel (The Vault), if one may put it that way for a fictional character; and he was "born" in Ruth Rendell's 1964 published From Doon With Death. It was also, more remarkably, Rendell's first novel which emerged full shaped, well plotted, with believable (and memorable) characters. Margaret Parsons is the rather non-descript wife of a rather non-descript employee of a small English town hardware store who is barely able to make ends meet. But when she doesn't come home one afternoon, her husband asked Mike Burden, a neighbour, for help: Burden is Chief Inspector Reg Wexford's right-hand man. It's not long before fear turns to grief as Margaret's body turns up in a nearby wood, quite dead. As the investigation progresses, the facts of her final hours are peeled back, onion skin like, and as other local residents come within the orbit of the investigation, new clues emerge pointing to teenage love affairs re-ignited. Particularly mysterious, is Doon who authoured several frankly amorous inscriptions in the flyleaves of Margaret's packed away books of poetry. Now Doon appears to have re-entered her life ... with love to be rekindled or vengeance? Although police procedurals are commonplace today, this early outing snaps along at a goodly pace, without unnecessarily forensic details or gore to bog down the storyline. I admit I had a pretty strong clue who the killer might be by about the book's mid-point, it in no way interfered with the pleasure of the working out and final revelations. This is a first rate crime fiction tale that sets one up, mouth watering, for the next in the series. Available for Kindle or Kobo for about $9.