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5 April 2025

Review: FROM DOON WITH DEATH, Ruth Rendell

This edition read as an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0031RSBQO
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cornerstone Digital; Special edition (January 26, 2010)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 26, 2010
Print length ‏ : ‎ 214 pages
#1 in the Inspector Wexford series

Synopsis (Amazon)

AN ORDINARY LIFE. AN EXTRAORDINARY DEATH.

The trampled grass led to the body of Margaret Parsons.

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'.

Who is Doon? And could the answer hold the key to Wexford solving his first case?

My Take

My first review of FROM DOON WITH DEATH on this blog is from 2009 but I had read it earlier than that. I have re-read it this time for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction group. I have chosen Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine as one of our Award winning crime fiction writers.

This is the first of the Wexford series, the first of 24 novels, published between 1964 and 2013, a period of 49 years. Wexford is a mature detective at the beginning of this series, already 52 years old. His sidekick Inspector Mike Burden is younger but also reasonably mature.

Ruth Rendell always said that she wished Wexford had been younger at the start of the series.

There are almost no clues to who murdered Margaret Parsons and I think the solution must have shocked readers back in 1964. Rendell leads the reader carefully to some conclusions about the nature of the killer, although the final reveal still has elements to shock.

There is almost none of Wexford's personal life in this novel. He and Burden spend huge amounts of time, some overnighters, investigating the case.

My rating: 4.6

Forgotten Book: FROM DOON WITH DEATH, Ruth Rendell

I have also read

Rendell, Ruth:
FROM DOON WITH DEATH - Wexford #1
4.5, A NEW LEASE OF DEATH- Wexford #2
4.6, THE BEST MAN TO DIE - Wexford #4
4.3, A SLEEPING LIFE, Ruth Rendell - Wexford #10
4.7, PUT ON BY CUNNING - Wexford #11
4.6, THE VAULT- Wexford #23
4.5, NO MAN'S NIGHTINGALE- Wexford #24
PORTOBELLO
4.7, THE MONSTER IN THE BOX
4.5, A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES
4.5, THE SAINT ZITA SOCIETY
4.6, THE MASTER OF THE MOOR
4.4, DARK CORNERS
4.6, A SPOT OF FOLLY

Vine, Barbara:
THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT
4.8, A DARK ADAPTED EYE
4.3, THE CHILD'S CHILD

4.7, THE BLOOD DOCTOR, Barbara

22 December 2021

Review: THE BLOOD DOCTOR, Barbara Vine

this large print edition published by Chivers Press 2002
ISBN 0-7540-1786-9
507 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Barbara Vine's new novel is about blood - blood in its metaphysical sense as the conductor of an inherited title and blood in its physical sense as the transmitter of disease.

The current Lord Nanther, experiencing the reform of the House of Lords, embarks on a biography of his great-grandfather, the first Lord Nanther, favoured physician to Queen Victoria, expert on blood diseases and particularly the royal disease of haemophilia. What he uncovers begins to horrify him as he realizes that Nanther died a guilty man - carrying a horrific secret to the grave.

The Blood Doctor weaves effortlessly between past and present, public life and private life. The result is a superbly satisfying novel about ambition, obsession and bad blood.

My Take

As she often did, Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell) took circumstances that were prompted by her position and work in the House of Lords as a springboard for this stand-lone novel. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1996 Birthday Honours and a life peer as Baroness Rendell of Babergh, of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk, on 24 October 1997. She sat in the House of Lords for the Labour Party. In 1998 Rendell was named in a list of the party's biggest private financial donors.

The reform of the House of Lords took place in 1998 just after she had been made a life peer so what is happening to Martin Nanther is essentially what was happening there, although of course she was a life peer, not an hereditary one like Nanther.

By the time of the reform, the House of Lords was being overwhelmed by an excess of hereditary peers and had become unsustainable and unwieldy in its present form. The idea that the blood of the hereditary peers was somehow "special" had lost favour. They wouldn't lose their titles or their estates, simply their right to sit in the House of Lords.

Martin Nanther has begun amassing memorabilia about his great grandfather Henry Nanther, given a hereditary peerage at the end of the nineteenth century by Queen Victoria for his work on diseases of the blood, particularly of haemophilia of which she was a carrier (which she refused to recognise), and which her own sons and grandsons were afflicted by.

Martin is transfixed by a letter written by one of his great-aunts in which she says Henry Nanther had done terrible things. Martin aims to eventually write a biography of his great-grandfather, and his research takes him to meet cousins and distant relatives whom he has never met, and to become aware of the presence of "tainted" blood in his own family.

Running alongside the main plot is the sub-plot of Martin and his second wife Jude attempting to have a baby, and the revelation that it is a genetic problem that is causing her frequent miscarriages.

This wasn't a book I could read quickly. There was quite a lot of history to absorb, and though I read it in large print, or perhaps because I did, it was also quite weighty.

However, a fascinating read.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

Vine, Barbara:
THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT
4.8, A DARK ADAPTED EYE
4.3, THE CHILD'S CHILD

31 October 2019

Review: THE CHILD'S CHILD, Barbara Vine

this edition published by Scribner 2012
ISBN 978-1-4516-9489-5
302 pages
source: my local library

Synopsis (Amazon)

From three-time Edgar Award–winning mystery writer Ruth Rendell, writing here under her Barbara Vine pseudonym, an ingenious novel-within-a-novel about brothers and sisters and the violence lurking behind our society’s taboos.

When their grandmother dies, Grace and Andrew Easton inherit her sprawling, book-filled London home, Dinmont House. Rather than sell it, the adult siblings move in together, splitting the numerous bedrooms and studies. The arrangement is unusual, but ideal for the affectionate pair—until the day Andrew brings home a new boyfriend. A devilishly handsome novelist, James Derain resembles Cary Grant, but his strident comments about Grace’s doctoral thesis soon puncture the house’s idyllic atmosphere. When he and Andrew witness their friend’s murder outside a London nightclub, James begins to unravel, and what happens next will change the lives of everyone in the house. Just as turmoil sets in at Dinmont House, Grace escapes into reading a manuscript—a long-lost novel from 1951 called The Child’s Child—never published because of its frank depictions of an unwed mother and a homosexual relationship. The book is the story of two siblings born a few years after World War One. This brother and sister, John and Maud, mirror the present-day Andrew and Grace: a homosexual brother and a sister carrying an illegitimate child. Acts of violence and sex will reverberate through their stories.

The Child’s Child is an enormously clever, brilliantly constructed novel-within-a-novel about family, betrayal, and disgrace. A master of psychological suspense, Ruth Rendell, in her newest work under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, takes us where violence and social taboos collide. She shows how society’s treatment of those it once considered undesirable has changed—and how sometimes it hasn’t.

My take

Two fairly parallel stories, history repeating itself. Also a novel about how social conventions have changed over a century. For example our attitudes to homosexuality have changed, as they have to unmarried mothers. There is a suggestion made that the attitudes changed around the same time.

The structure is a book within a book, a challenge for any author. We begin in the modern day and are then transported to a plot within the plot. In my opinion the "inner book", the manuscript that Grace is reading, is just a bit long, and almost turns into a family saga. But just in time we emerge back into the modern day.

Is it crime fiction? Well yes, there is a murder: the culprit is brought to trial and executed. But, by the laws of the day, there are other crimes for which penalties are not applied.

It wasn't my favourite Barbara Vine book, and I don't seem to have found it as fascinating as other reviewers but it is certainly clever.

My rating: 4.3

I've also read
THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT
4.8, A DARK ADAPTED EYE

23 August 2018

Review: BODIES FROM THE LIBRARY: Lost Classic Stories, Tony Medawar (edit)

format: Kindle (Amazon)
File Size: 809 KB
Print Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Collins Crime Club (July 26, 2018)
Publication Date: July 26, 2018
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
Language: English
ASIN: B077ZGVY1Z

Synopsis (Amazon)

This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 16 rare tales by masters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a newly discovered Agatha Christie crime story that has not been seen since 1922.

At a time when crime and thriller writing has once again overtaken the sales of general and literary fiction, Bodies from the Library unearths lost stories from the Golden Age, that period between the World Wars when detective fiction captured the public’s imagination and saw the emergence of some of the world’s cleverest and most popular storytellers.

This anthology brings together 16 forgotten tales that have either been published only once before – perhaps in a newspaper or rare magazine – or have never before appeared in print. From a previously unpublished 1917 script featuring Ernest Bramah’s blind detective Max Carrados, to early 1950s crime stories written for London’s Evening Standard by Cyril Hare, Freeman Wills Crofts and A.A. Milne, it spans five decades of writing by masters of the Golden Age.

Most anticipated of all are the contributions by women writers: the first detective story by Georgette Heyer, unseen since 1923; an unpublished story by Christianna Brand, creator of Nanny McPhee; and a dark tale by Agatha Christie published only in an Australian journal in 1922 during her ‘Grand Tour’ of the British Empire.

With other stories by Detection Club stalwarts Anthony Berkeley, H.C. Bailey, J.J. Connington, John Rhode and Nicholas Blake, plus Vincent Cornier, Leo Bruce, Roy Vickers and Arthur Upfield, this essential collection harks back to a time before forensic science – when murder was a complex business.

My Take

This is a fascinating collection of stories and plays by Golden Age authors, including the one that got Arthur Upfield into so much trouble, about the perfect murder, and an Agatha Christie story The Wife of the Kenite published in in an Australian Women's Magazine in 1922. This is the earliest published Christie story that I have read. (See my list here).

Most of the stories in the anthology have only been published once, or not previously. Some have worn well, others were more 19th century in their "feel". After each short story is an excellent short biography of the author. The introduction also gave an excellent summary of the Golden Age period. What a productive time it was!

The contents
Before Insulin, J.J. Connington
The Inverness Cape, Leo Bruce
Dark Waters, Freeman Wills Croft
Lincke's Great Case, Georgette Heyer
Calling James Braithwaite, Nicholas Blake - a play
The Elusive Bullet, John Rhode
The Euthanasia of Hilary's Aunt, Cyril Hare
The Girdle of Dreams, Vincent Cornier
The Fool and the Perfect Murder, Arthur Upfield
Bread Upon the Waters, A.A. Milne
The Man with the Twisted Thumb, Anthony Berkeley
The Rum Punch, Christianna Brand
Blind Man's Buff, Ernest Bramah - a play
Victoria Pumphrey, H.C. Bailey
The Starting-Handle Murder, Roy Vickers
The Wife of the Kenite, Agatha Christie

My rating: 4.5

About the Author

Editor Tony Medawar is a detective fiction expert and researcher with a penchant for tracking down rare stories. His other collections of previously uncollected stories include WHILE THE LIGHT LASTS (Agatha Christie), THE AVENGING CHANCE (Anthony Berkeley), THE SPOTTED CAT (Christianna Brand) and A SPOT OF FOLLY (Ruth Rendell).

23 May 2018

50 Books Read

I'm steaming along quite well this year, and have reached one of those milestones: 50

I keep a full record of categories here
The main ones are

2018 Aussie Author Reading Challenge: aiming for 20: currently 11
2018 Australian Women Writers Challenge: aiming for 20. Currently 6
British Books Challenge 2018 currently 24
2018 Ebook Reading Challenge currently 13
New to me authors - a personal challenge currently 17
Snagged at the Library currently: 24
Audio books: currently: 8

Looking at the ratings I've given them, you may well note that they range only from 5.0 to 4.0
To be truthful I've had a few DNFs that I have not recorded, but actually I've finished and rated over 90% of the books that I've started. I think that is because so many of the books that I tackle, I do so as a result of recommendations in book groups and by friends on line. So, in a sense, a certain amount of pre-selection has already taken place.

Here are the books

3 May 2018

What I read in April 2018

April 2018

I read a good range of books in the last month
My Pick of the Month is THE GIRL BEFORE by J P Delaney

See what others have chosen for their Pick of the Month.

14 April 2018

Review: A SPOT OF FOLLY, Ruth Rendell

this edition published by Profile Books 2017
ISBN 978-1788160148
source: my local library
210 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Ten and a Quarter New Tales of Murder and Mayhem.

Previously uncollected and unpublished: new short stories from a master of psychological suspense. Introduction from Sophie Hannah.

New and uncollected tales of murder, mischief, magic and madness.

Ruth Rendell was an acknowledged master of psychological suspense: these are ten (and a quarter) of her most chillingly compelling short stories, collected here together for the first time.
In these tales, a businessman boasts about cheating on his wife, only to find the tables turned. A beautiful country rectory reverberates to the echo of a historical murder. A compulsive liar acts on impulse, only to be lead inexorably to disaster. And a wealthy man finds there is more to his wife's kidnapping than meets the eye.

Atmospheric, gripping and never predictable, this is Ruth Rendell at her inimitable best.
The stories are: Never Sleep in a Bed Facing a Mirror; A Spot of Folly; The Price of Joy; The Irony of Hate; Digby's Wives; The Haunting of Shawley Rectory; A Drop Too Much; The Thief; The Long Corridor of Time; In the Time of his Prosperity; and Trebuchet.

My Take

No two of Ruth Rendell's short stories are ever alike, although in some cases one or two became the basis of a later novel.

She was obviously fascinated by links with history and elements of the supernatural. Each of the short stories is polished and they are mostly under 20 pages. There are 3 ghost stories in this collection, although one is only a matter of lines long. Most have an unexpected twist.

Highly recommended.
The introduction by Sophie Hannah raises some interesting points.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read
FROM DOON WITH DEATH - Wexford #1
4.5, A NEW LEASE OF DEATH- Wexford #2
4.6, THE BEST MAN TO DIE - Wexford #4
4.3, A SLEEPING LIFE, Ruth Rendell - Wexford #10
4.7, PUT ON BY CUNNING - Wexford #11
4.6, THE VAULT- Wexford #23
4.5, NO MAN'S NIGHTINGALE- Wexford #24
Stand-alones
PORTOBELLO
4.7, THE MONSTER IN THE BOX
4.5, A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES
4.5, THE SAINT ZITA SOCIETY
4.6, THE MASTER OF THE MOOR
4.4, DARK CORNERS

20 March 2016

Review: THE PRICE OF LOVE, Peter Robinson

first published in Great Britain by Hodder & Stoughton 2009
ISBN 978-0-340-91951-4
subtitled Eleven Ways to Pay With Your Life
338 pages
Author website

Synopsis (author website)

This collection of short stories includes, as the centrepiece, a new Banks novella called “Like a Virgin.” The other stories in the book, two of them also featuring Banks, are “Cornelius Jubb,” “The Magic of Your Touch,” “The Eastvale Ladies’ Poker Circle,” “The Ferryman’s Beautiful Daughter,” “Walking the Dog,” “Blue Christmas,” “Shadows on the Water,” “The Cherub Affair,” “The Price of Love” and “Birthday Dance.”

My Take

I read mainly crime fiction novels but occasionally a short story anthology is brought to my attention by a fellow reader. Short stories often give the reader a different view of a writer's talents. Among my favourite writers who have also produced short stories are Ian Rankin and Ruth Rendell. I cut my teeth on the short stories of Somerset Maugham and Charles Dickens.

These eleven stories first appeared in the first decade of the 21st century. Only three of them, one of them a longish novella, feature Robinson's detective Alan Banks. The author says that most of them "were written at the request of one editor or another" and at the end of the anthology he gives detail about what led to the writing of each one. He says that he thinks of the stories as challenges, a chance to explore something he hadn't explored before. He says that he finds short stories difficult to write, and that they often take him into uncharted territory.

The story I liked best The Price of Love, the one that gives the anthology its name. Tommy Burford, whose police constable father was recently killed in the line of duty, has discovered something quite strange in the room of Uncle Arthur, his mother's new boyfriend.

It is worth it after you finish each story to take a moment to reflect, to ask who in this story, as the subtitle says, paid with his or her life.

My rating: 4.4

I have also read
FRIEND OF THE DEVIL (2007)
4.6, ALL THE COLOURS OF DARKNESS (2008)
4.6, BAD BOY (2010)
4.9. BEFORE THE POISON
4.7, WATCHING THE DARK (2013)
4.3, CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION
4.8, ABATTOIR BLUES

3 January 2016

What I read in December 2016

December 2015

I managed to put a bit of a spurt on in December, despite the increase in social activities.
You will notice a goodly number of Australian authors too.
My pick of the month was a toss up between THE HANGING GIRL by Jussi Adler Olsen and THE SHUT EYE by Belinda Bauer

4.8, THE HANGING GIRL, Jussi Adler Olsen
4.2, THE ANCIENT CURSE, Valerio Massimo Manfredi
4.5, DAMAGE, Felix Francis
4.2, THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER, Stuart Palmer - audio book
4.2, TEN STAR CLUES, E.R. Punshon - Vintage mystery
4.4, DARK CORNERS, Ruth Rendell - her final novel
4.3, MURDER ON THE ISLAND, Brian Kavanagh - Aussie author
4.8, THE SHUT EYE, Belinda Bauer - British author
4.7, CRUCIFIXION CREEK, Barry Maitland - Aussie author
3.9, THE POPEYE MURDER, Sandra Winter-Dewhirst - Aussie author
4.3, ALL THAT IS LOST BETWEEN US, Sarah Foster - Aussie author
4.4, RUNNING AGAINST THE TIDE, Amanda Ortlepp - Aussie author
4.4, FALL FROM GRACE, David Ashton

Check what others have chosen for their pick of the month.

13 December 2015

Review: DARK CORNERS, Ruth Rendell

available from Amazon for Kindle
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Scribner (October 27, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1501119427
ISBN-13: 978-1501119422

Synopsis (Amazon)

When his father dies, Carl Martin inherits a house in an increasingly rich and trendy London neighborhood. Carl needs cash, however, so he rents the upstairs room and kitchen to the first person he interviews, Dermot McKinnon. That was colossal mistake number one. Mistake number two was keeping his father’s bizarre collection of homeopathic “cures” that he found in the medicine cabinet, including a stash of controversial diet pills. Mistake number three was selling fifty of those diet pills to a friend, who is then found dead.

Dermot seizes a nefarious opportunity and begins to blackmail Carl, refusing to pay rent, and creepily invading Carl’s space. Ingeniously weaving together two storylines that finally merge in one shocking turn, Ruth Rendell describes one man’s spiral into darkness—and murder—as he falls victim to a diabolical foe he cannot escape.

My take

Ruth Rendell died earlier this year at the age of 85. So this stand-alone is the very last of her books, and of course as a long time avid reader of her books (there have been 60 of them in the last 50 years) I had to read it.

While I wouldn't rate it in her best 10, it still demonstrates what a remarkable story teller she was, and how she was able to get into the mind of her principal characters.

There is no doubt here who the "murderer" is, even though Carl caused his friend's death unwittingly. But it preys constantly on his mind and he becomes unable to work, to eat, to sleep. And Rendell asks the reader whether we would react in the same way. Or would we get it over and done with, and front up to the police with an admission that we were the source of the tablets that in all probability killed Stacey. Carl chooses not to and thus becomes the victim of Dermot, his upstairs tenant, who blackmails him by refusing to pay any rent. With no income, and unable to work, Carl sinks lower and lower, to the point where his girlfriend leaves him, and Dermot preys on his mind.

The story just misses out on creating enough tension although there is a second murder, and also another attempted one.

There is a second story thread running alongside the first: Lizzie Milsom, a friend of the dead girl Stacey, who moves into her flat, wears her clothes, and finally gets kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity. When Lizzie's father Tom gets a free bus card when he turns 60, he takes up a new hobby: travelling on buses. After being beaten up at one bus stop, he then has a nasty experience when a passenger gets off a bus, leaving his rucksack behind.

So a good if not brilliant final outing for an author who has left an indelible mark on British crime fiction.
For those who do not know, Ruth Rendell was the creator of Inspector Wexford, and also wrote under the pseudonym of Barbara Vine.

My rating: 4.4

I've also read
FROM DOON WITH DEATH - Wexford #1
4.5, A NEW LEASE OF DEATH- Wexford #2
4.6, THE BEST MAN TO DIE - Wexford #4
4.3, A SLEEPING LIFE, Ruth Rendell - Wexford #10
4.7, PUT ON BY CUNNING - Wexford #11
4.6, THE VAULT- Wexford #23
4.5, NO MAN'S NIGHTINGALE- Wexford #24

Stand-alones
PORTOBELLO
4.7, THE MONSTER IN THE BOX
4.5, A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES
4.5, THE SAINT ZITA SOCIETY
4.6, THE MASTER OF THE MOOR

Barbara Vine
THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT
4.8, A DARK ADAPTED EYE

5 December 2015

Books on the Go - an update

It seems to be some time since I did one of these but there are some books that have been on my list for a few months.

TBRN - To Be Read Next - lists to give me direction, but I often ignore them :-)

Library Book

THE SHUT EYE, Belinda Bauer

from Net Galley

ALL THAT IS LOST BETWEEN US, Sara Foster
MURDER AND OTHER DISASTERS, Lida Sideris
KING OF THE ROAD, Nigel Bartlett
PAINTED BLACK, Greg Kihn

from my TBR

DAMAGE, Felix Francis

audio books on the go

THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER, Stuart Palmer

from my Kindle

KILLER'S ISLAND, Anna Jannson
THE DYNAMITE ROOM, Jason Hewitt
THE RESISTANCE MAN, Martin Walker
THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB, David Lagercrantz
DARK CORNERS, Ruth Rendell
CRUCIFIXION CREEK, Barry Maitland
THE BLACKMAIL BLEND, Livia Day
IN THE DARK, Chris Patchell
THE SECRET ARTS, Azmar Dar
IT HAPPENED IN EGYPT, Charles Norris Williams

review books

THE GOLDILOCKS PLANET, Paula Bernstein
GOOD MONEY, J.M. Green
GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC, Helen Goltz
ONE TOO MANY, Maureen Jennings
THE ABRUPT BUSINESS OF DYING, Paul Hardisty
THE FOURTH REICH, Helen Goltz
DEATH BY DISGUISE,, Helen Goltz

10 April 2015

Update: British Books Challenge 2015

As I've remarked before, reading British crime fiction is not actually much of a challenge for me, because my local library has so much on offer, and I am hooked on so many authors.


British Books Challenge 2015 - mine will be crime fiction

Of the 44 books I've read this year, I have classified 17 as British.
Usually the classification relates to the author, although I do find it hard to put Peter Robinson's Banks series anywhere else, even though he is Canadian.

So my participation in the 2015 British Books challenge, being hosted by Fluttering Butterflies, is more record keeping than anything else, because I've already completed the initial challenge of reading 12 titles.

Here are the books I've read this year

9 April 2015

Update: Vintage Mystery Bingo 2015

Vintage Mystery BINGO 2015: Silver & Gold Edition

This is hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block.

* All books must be from the mystery category (crime fiction, detective fiction, espionage, etc.). The mystery/crime must be the primary feature of the book--ghost stories, paranormal, romance, humor, etc are all welcome as ingredients, but must not be the primary category under which these books would be labeled at the library or bookstore.

*Challengers may play either the Silver Age or Golden Age Card—or both.

*BINGOS may be claimed by completing all spaces in a row--horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. You may also claim a “Four Corner” BINGO by reading a book for each of the four corners plus two more spaces—any two. A valid BINGO must have six complete spaces.

Golden Vintage - books written before 1960

4.0, THE GOLDEN CLAW, Sax Rohmer - with a colour in the title, published 1915
4.2, THE MAN WHO WATCHED THE TRAINS GO BY, Georges Simenon - one book that has been made into a movie, published in 1938
4.2, THE CORNISH COAST MURDER, John Bude - a book that involves the clergy, published 1935
4.6, BEAST IN VIEW, Margaret Millar - a book set in the U.S. - published 1955
3.8, THAT AFFAIR NEXT DOOR, Anna Katherine Green - a book with a detective "team" - published 1897
3.8, THEY FOUND HIM DEAD, Georgette Heyer - a book with a professional detective - published 1935
4.3, THE CARTER OF LA PROVIDENCE, Georges Simenon - a book not set in US or England - published 1931

Silver Vintage: books written 1960 - 1989

4.7, PUT ON BY CUNNING, Ruth Rendell - a book with a detective team - published 1981
4.1, THE STEEL SPRING, Per Wahloo - a book you have to borrow - published 1968
4.3, MURDER ON THE THIRTY FIRST FLOOR, Per Wahloo - a book set outside US or England - publ. 1964
4.3, A SLEEPING LIFE, Ruth Rendell- one book set in England or US - published 1978
4.5, THE TERRORISTS, Maj Sjowall and PerWahloo - book made into a film (1994 Stockholm Marathon) - published 1975
3.8, ROSEMARY'S BABY, Ira Levin - a book that features a crime other than murder - publ. 1967
4.4, HIS BURIAL TOO, Catherine Aird -a locked room mystery - publ. 1973

I have created a special page for this challenge and I update that as I read a new book.

2 March 2015

What I read in February 2015

Crime Fiction Pick of the Month 2015

I managed to keep up a rate of a book every two days this month, with some excellent titles.
I've been reading mainly books from my local library and some vintage crime fiction e-books.
An attempt to read outside the crime fiction genre did not work for me.

4.3, A SLEEPING LIFE, Ruth Rendell - British police procedural, vintage fiction
5.0, HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN, Louise Penny - Canadian author
4.0, DEATH OF A LIAR, M.C. Beaton - British cozy
4.5, THE ART OF KILLING WELL, Marco Malvaldi - translated from Italian
4.9, THE BACK ROAD, Rachel Abbott
4.6, BEAST IN VIEW, Margaret Millar
4.5, MURDER ONE, Robert Dugoni - US courtroom drama
3.8, THAT AFFAIR NEXT DOOR, Anna Katherine Green - vintage fiction
4.5, THE TERRORISTS, Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo - translated
4.3, DEAD HEADING, Catherine Aird - British cozy
2.0, THE BRONZE HORSEMAN, Paullina Simons - NOT crime fiction
4.7, THE DARK ROAD TO MERCY, Wiley Cash
4.4, ANGLE OF INVESTIGATION, Michael Connelly
3.8, THEY FOUND HIM DEAD, Georgette Heyer - vintage fiction

My Pick of the Month went to HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN by Louise Penny

Check what others have chosen for this month.

2 February 2015

What I read in January 2015

Pick of the Month 2015

I've begun the new year with an astounding amount of reading, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to keep it up.

4.8, ONLY THE INNOCENT, Rachel Abbott
5.0, ENTRY ISLAND, Peter May
4.0, THE GOLDEN CLAW, Sax Rohmer - vintage crime, publ. 1915
4.2, THE MAN WHO WATCHED THE TRAINS GO BY, Georges Simenon - vintage crime
4.6, THIN AIR, Ann Cleeves
4.3, GAME FOR FIVE, Marco Malvaldi - translated
4.3, MASTERMIND, Helen Goltz - female Aussie author
4.7, PUT ON BY CUNNING, Ruth Rendell
4.7, WEB OF DECEIT, Katherine Howell - female Aussie author
4.1, THE STEEL SPRING, Per Wahloo - translated
4.2, THE CORNISH COAST MURDER, John Bude - vintage crime
5.0, HADES, Candice Fox - female Aussie author
4.3, THE MONOGRAM MURDERS, Sophie Hannah - revival of Hercule Poirot??
4.8, CLOSED FOR WINTER, Jorn Lier Horst - translated
4.3, MURDER ON THE THIRTY FIRST FLOOR, Per Wahloo -translated

My Pick of the Month was a toss up between ENTRY ISLAND by Peter May and HADES by Candice Fox.
I'm leaning just a bit towards the latter because she is an Australian author.

See what others have chosen for this month.

1 February 2015

Review: A SLEEPING LIFE, Ruth Rendell - audio book

audio book purchased from Audible
Narrated by: Nigel Anthony
Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
Series: Inspector Wexford, Book 10, first published 1978
Unabridged Audiobook

Synopsis (Audible)

The body found under the hedge was that of a middle-aged woman. With nothing more to go on than what appeared to be a sardonic gleam in the wide and staring eyes of the victim, It’s time for Wexford and his team to get pro-active. From a seemingly unremarkable death comes an intricate web of lies and deception.

A wallet found in the victim’s handbag leads our hero, Inspector Wexford, to a Mr. Grenville West, a writer whose plots revel in the blood, thunder, and passion of dramas of old; whose current whereabouts are unclear; and whose curious secretary--the plain Polly Flinders--provides the Inspector with more questions than answers. And when a second Grenville West comes to light, Wexford faces a dizzying array of possible scenarios--and suspects--behind the Comfrey murder.

My take

This is one of those stories where Wexford seemed a bit plodding in coming to the same conclusion as me but then I can't really decide whether or not I had actually read this before, decades ago, when I was focussed on reading Wexford after Wexford.

Wexford's search for the family of the dead woman under the hedge, Rhoda Comfrey, turns up remarkably little information, and in particular he can't find out where she has lived in London for the last twenty years. Wexford calls in a few favours among London police in a desperate attempt to stave off the Chief Constable's threat to hand the case over to Scotland Yard if he hasn't solved it by the end of the week.

Wexford's personal life becomes complicated when his daughter Sylvia leaves her husband and adds herself and her two young sons to stay indefinitely with Dora and Reg. Sylvia is feeling much put-upon, in a women's lib way of thinking, and Reg tries to add his bit of common sense to the brew.

I love the way Rendell weaves the byplay between Reg and his colleague Mike Burden into the investigation, while the ongoing story of Wexford family life hums along in the background.

And Nigel Anthony does an excellent job with the narration.

My rating: 4.3

I've also reviewed
FROM DOON WITH DEATH - Wexford #1
4.5, A NEW LEASE OF DEATH- Wexford #2
4.6, THE BEST MAN TO DIE - Wexford #4
4.7, PUT ON BY CUNNING - Wexford #11
4.6, THE VAULT- Wexford #23
4.5, NO MAN'S NIGHTINGALE- Wexford #24
Stand-alones
PORTOBELLO
4.7, THE MONSTER IN THE BOX
4.5, A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES
4.5, THE SAINT ZITA SOCIETY
4.6, THE MASTER OF THE MOOR

Writing as Barbara Vine:
THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT
4.8, A DARK ADAPTED EYE

15 January 2015

Review: PUT ON BY CUNNING, Ruth Rendell - audio book

source: unabridged audio book from Audible.com
Narrated by: Charles Kay
Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
Series: Inspector Wexford, Book 11
first published 1981
aka DEATH NOTES

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Sir Manuel Camargue, yesterday one of the most celebrated musicians of his time, today floats face down in the lake near his sprawling English country house.

The consensus is accidental death -- but Inspector Wexford knows the stench of murder most foul when he smells it. Particularly in the company of two suspects -- one, the victim's fiancee, who is too young to be true, the other his daughter who may be no kin and even less kind . . .

My Take

This made excellent listening. Charles Kay does a very good job of narration and particularly allows you to savour Ruth Rendell's wonderful writing. There are little bits of particularly British humour that come over very well.

The central story focuses on trying to prove whether the young woman who claims to be Sir Manuel Carmargue's only daughter, estranged from her father for 19 years, is who she is. Following threads from what is really an unofficial investigation, Wexford takes wife Dora to Los Angeles where he attempts to mix work with pleasure, and he and his offsider Burdon take a work trip to Paris to apprehend a murderer before he strikes again.

Highly recommendable.

My rating: 4.7

I've also reviewed
FROM DOON WITH DEATH
PORTOBELLO
4.7, THE MONSTER IN THE BOX
4.5, A NEW LEASE OF DEATH
4.6, THE VAULT
4.6, THE BEST MAN TO DIE
4.5, A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES
4.5, THE SAINT ZITA SOCIETY
4.6, THE MASTER OF THE MOOR
4.5, NO MAN'S NIGHTINGALE

Plans, plans, plans

Every now and again I make plans about what I am going to read next.

As you know I participate in a number of reading challenges which are supposed to extend my reading.
Without a list, I sometimes lose my way.

If you look in the right hand column you will see this "little" list which I have selected from all I have on offer.
But they are really just the tip of the iceberg.
I also get tempted from what I see others reading and reviewing. I think maybe I am a book kleptomaniac.

TBRN - To Be Read Next
- lists to give me direction
but I often ignore them :-)

from Net Galley

DEATH OF A LIAR, M.C. Beaton
EDEN, Candice Fox
ODD FELLOWS, Nicholas Shakespear

from my TBR

PAVING THE NEW ROAD, Sulari Gentil
WEB OF DECEIT, Katherine Howell

audio books on the go

PUT ON BY CUNNING, Ruth Rendell
THEY FOUND HIM DEAD, Georgette Heyer

from my Kindle

THE CARTER OF 'LA PROVIDENCE', Georges Simenon
IT HAPPENED IN EGYPT, Charles Norris Williams
THE CORNISH COAST MURDER, John Bude

review books

THE KIZUNA COAST, Sujata Massey
GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC, Helen Goltz
THE FOURTH REICH, Helen Goltz

from the library

HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN, Louise Penny
THE ART OF KILLING WELL, Marco Malvadi
THE BACK ROAD, Rachel Abbott
THE STEEL SPRING, Per Wahloo
THE TERRORISTS, Sjowall & Wahloo
MURDER ON THE THIRTY FIRST FLOOR, Per Wahloo

So now you can, maybe, follow what I am reading, but I can't guarantee the list will shrink - it may even disappear!

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