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While I did get into Morse in my late teens, I actually never got around to trying Rendell either in print or in the televised adaptations. Given that those starred one of my favorite actors, George Baker, I am not sure quite how I have achieved that. I probably should rectify that… I looked in the bedrooms,” Parsons said. He stopped pacing and hope colored his cheeks. Fear whitened them again as he said:“You think she might be up in the attics? Fainted or something?”
It is not so much that this story could not be told today but that it would be told differently and our sympathies might be expected to be somewhat different. For instance, there is a male character who is treated far more softly and sympathetically than I think he would be had the novel were to be written today. For a series opener, it's a bit typical. What I mean is that having read other Inspector Wexford books, I know that the author takes time to more fully develop Wexford's character as the series progresses. Also, as a side note, don't forget that this book was written in 1964 and thus attitudes are a bit dated. Overall though, I love Ruth Rendell's work, and I'm very happy to have read this one.I can see that.” Burden wasn’t going to sit down if he could avoid it. “Look, you can’t say your wife’s actually missing. You’ve been home one and a half hours and she isn’t here. That’s all. She’s probably gone to the pictures. As a matter of fact I’m on my way there now with my wife. I expect we’ll meet her coming out.” For the most part, I thought this mystery was rather ordinary. A man reports his wife missing, and the police don't take him very seriously because she's only been missing a few hours. The husband describes their banal marriage and life, full of routine and absent of extravagances, as proof that her being missing is a big concern. Enter Inspector Wexford, a man who I think I am going to like. He's a poetry buff, rather like one Adam Dalgliesh of P.D. James' creation. But unlike the refined Dalgliesh, Wexford isn't above some coarse policeman's talk. That roots him in reality.
After reading the "Dossier" I knew I wanted to read more about Ruth Rendell and would encourage everyone to read more about her fascinating life and diverse accomplishments. Here is one of many articles of interest: You must be joking,” Burden said. “He’d have stayed out all night putting the paper to bed. Or the editor’s secretary.” He charged up Tabard Road, then made himself stroll when he got to the Victorian house where Parsons lived. It was all in darkness, the curtains in the big bay downstairs undrawn. The step was whitened, the brass kerb above it polished. Mrs. Parsons must have been a house-proud woman. Must have been? Why not, still was? In his debut outing, Chief Inspector Wexford shows none of the avuncular charm that readers have got used to in the series. At one point, he upbraids his deputy, Mike Burden, for offering him a cigarette while they wait to interview a witness in her home. “This is Sussex, not Mexico,” he thunders. When they discuss the potential guilt of Mr Parsons, Wexford makes the outrageous suggestion that any married man has a motive for killing his wife. In fairness to Rendell (and Wexford), there are far more outmoded opinions to be found in other 50-year-old novels. Wexford’s grumpiness is not endearing, though Rendell made him more likeable as the series progressed. The Wexford series of novels are set in "Kingsmarkham", a fictional town in Sussex. [2] Kingsmarkham has been reported as "inspired by Midhurst in West Sussex". [3]
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I keep thinking what could have happened to her. It’s so open round here. I suppose it would be, being country.”
I suppose you’ve looked all over the house?” he asked. He had driven down this road twice a day for a year but he couldn’t remember whether the house he was sitting in had two floors or three. His policeman’s brain tried to reassemble the retinal photograph of his policeman’s eye. A bay window at the bottom, two flat sash windows about it and—yes, two smaller ones above that under the slated eyelids of the roof. An ugly house, he thought, ugly and forbidding. I initially gave three stars, for an aspect I don't recall. Two stars make sense. Reginald was an asshole! That compounded with how much I hate things allegedly stated “quietly”! If you are annoyed by a colleague or subordinate, like the uniquely likeable Mike: a human being raises their voice somewhat, or at least expresses themselves emphatically. This “quiet” or “calm” idea is crap: as robotic as it is irritating! That presents no memorable personality and in this case, I was glad Reginald was not in the story until later; that Mike is an equal protagonist. Reginald was rude to Mike. He was very harsh, merely at Mike's posing of a question, or making a suggestion! The book followed Burden as much as, if not more than, it followed Wexford. I was surprised that Burden seemed as much as a focus when Wexford is the main character, and this novel is his introduction in a continuing series. I did not find myself connecting to Wexford and I do not feel that I got a strong sense of his character and who he is. Rendell is still writing her superior, socially aware police procedurals featuring Reg Wexford, as well as sharply observed, standalone psychological crime novels. The 51st Ruth Rendell novel, The Girl Next Door, will be published in August. And the suspenseful Barbara Vine books – 14 and counting – show another side to the author.
From Doon With Death (Inspector Wexford, #1). www.goodreads.com/book/show/748989.From_Doon_With_Death. As it becomes clear that there is indeed foul play, of course we find that this ordinary housewife had a more interesting history than initially suspected. Look,” he said, “I don’t like to say this, but somebody’s bound to ask you. It might as well be me. Could she have gone out with some man? I’m sorry, but I had to ask.” Wexford is an intelligent, sensitive man. He has a placid wife, Dora, and two daughters, Sheila and Sylvia. He has a good relationship with Sheila (his favourite) but a difficult relationship with Sylvia (who feels slighted though he has never actually intended to slight her). He also has a strong friendship with DI Mike Burden. A firm grasp of social concerns ensure that her novels are reflective of our own times, as well as hugely absorbing. Louise Welsh, The Times
Of course, Wexford is no pushover. He simply doesn’t let on to Inspector Mike Burden or anyone else that he’s interested. The closer Wexford comes to catching his prey the more he becomes excited. The plot and characters never really engaged me. This book had in common with the first Wexford, From Doon With Death, an explanation for a crime that was tied to the need to keep secrets because of the mores of the time. Unfortunately in this case it triggered only a yawn from me. With no useful clues and a victim known only for her mundane life, Chief Inspector Wexford is baffled until he discovers Margaret's dark secret - a collection of rare books, each inscribed from a secret lover and signed only as ' Doon'. This book was published in 1964, the year I was born. (Which is why I read it now, to fulfill a book bingo square :) Of course you had to ask. I know, it’s all in here.” He tapped the bookcase. “Just routine inquiries, isn’t it? But you’re wrong. Not Margaret. It’s laughable.” He paused, not laughing. “Margaret’s a good woman. She’s a lay preacher at the Wesleyan place down the road.”Here’s the premise: Sixteen years ago, a man named Albert Painter was executed for murdering an elderly woman. Painter had a wife and 5-year old daughter. Now Tess, the daughter, is almost 21, pretty and brilliant, having won a scholarship to Oxford. She and a fellow student, Charles Archery, have fallen in love, and she has met his parents. She told them that her mother has always told her that her father was not a murderer, and that she believes her mother. Inspector Wexford has returned, in the second of Ruth Rendell's series of mysteries, as a grumpy cop who sees the visit of a Rev. Archery a rehash of one of his first cases. Archery has come to Wexford to make sure that there is no second guessing the conviction and hanging of Harry Painter for the 16-year-old murder of an elderly woman, battered to death with an axe. You can certainly appreciate how this novel would have shaken up readers used to the certainties of Golden Age detective fiction. Wexford is not the type of policeman to defer to the posh lawyer Douglas Quadrant, and this crime is certainly a long way from Agatha Christie’s casebook. The story suffers for having Archery as the lead. He's alternately dull and irritating, though infinitely preferable to his smug, condescending son who joins in the investigation. The two of them just happen to run into most of the primary witnesses to the crime including a hot mess of a mother and daughter act, a Stunning Beauty who inspires lust in Archery Senior's heart, and oodles of references to a local poet and playwright who died in the first flowering of youth. What do you know-this ties in, too!
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