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Title: Best Man to Die by Ruth Rendell ISBN: 0-345-34530-4 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 12 May, 1987 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A reprint of a 1969 Inspector Wexford Novel
Comment: While the Inspector Wexford novels are generally good, this one is a little dated. The references to money, with an indication that 120 pounds sterling was a large amount that made a man flush, needs to be taken in the context of the time and the country, i.e., the UK where pay scales may have been a quarter the amount in the US. The amount noted, at that time a little under $300 in US funds, would not have been exceptionally high by US standards even in 1969. I also had a bit of a problem with the writing style as the author tends to jump from one character and scene to another while going from one written sentence to the next. It would be nice to have a break indicating a change of scene, even a blank line on the page. This is an editorial problem which I blame on the publisher.
The plot is complex, and initially starts out with a number of seemingly unrelated events. It involves marriages, mistresses, children, a dog, some amount of crime, of course a couple murders, people not cooperating with the police, and class distinctions with some working class people just trying to keep their heads above water.
When the police investigate a man's murder, the investigation opens up various cans of worms. There are people making a little money on the side, women looking for rich men, men looking for rich women, married men chasing around, and the police trying to tie everything together. Overall an interesting plot of 201 pages in this edition.
Rating: 5
Summary: My continual rantings about Rendell must be getting tiresome
Comment: As I'm lazy, I'm just going to copy out the official blurb (plus, I can't say it any better):
Jack Pertwee was getting married in the morning.
Charlie Hatton drove his lorry eleven hours down from Leeds just to be there. Charlie was Jack's best friend and he would be his best man. When the two parted at the Kingsbrook bridge, jack felt as though his life was just beginning. But for Charlie Hatton, life was about to end.
Detective Chief Inspector Wexford wondered why the fatal Fanshawe car accident kept upsetting his concentration on the Hatton murder. There couldn't be a connection. Fanshawe had been a wealthy stockbroker, Charlie Hatton a cocky little lorry driver with some illegal dealing.
But was it just a coincidence that Hatton had been killed on the day following that of Mrs Fanshawe's regaining consciousness?
On first read, several years ago when I was about 12, this book didn't strike me as one of the greatest Wexford's. On re-reading it, my estimation is much, much improved. The Best Man to Die is another excellent Wexford novel from Rendell's early period. It doesn't have the wonderful, vicious darkness of Wolf to the Slaughter or the unique quality of Some Lie or Some Die, but it remains a very very excellent and clever mystery that will likely confound even the most practiced of crime-fiction readers. It did me, even though I had read it before! I could remember, just about, who, but for the life of me I had no idea why, until Rendell revealed all in one of those excellent last-revelation chapters that she does so so well.
At this point in the series, neither Wexford nor Burden had begun to fully develop quite yet; primarily these early books are plot novels and character foible novels. Still, Wexford is certainly beginning to show hints of how interesting he is, and his family life begins to take on the wonderful life it does later in the series. Here, actually, Wexford seems slightly out-of-character; he's less patient, possibly. Less tolerant perhaps? Certainly, he wasn't quite as warm as in many of the other books, but his skills as a detective are borne out wonderfully in an excellent mystery.
The Best Man to Die (again, one of Rendell's treasures that have been left out of print. I doubt you'll be able to get this anywhere except second-hand) is a great, impeccably written mystery. Rendell dissects her characters motivations marvellously. I would recommend this, of course, very highly indeed, but I don't think it's really the place to begin reading Wexford.
Rating: 5
Summary: Twists of plot all over the place - excellent!
Comment: Not your usual predictable murder mystery. I usually don't like the Inspector Wexford stuff, but this one was outstanding, read it!
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Title: Wolf to the Slaughter by Ruth Rendell ISBN: 0345345207 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 12 May, 1987 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell ISBN: 0345348176 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 13 February, 1988 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Shake Hands Forever by Ruth Rendell, Ruth Rendell ISBN: 0375704957 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 11 July, 2000 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Guilty Thing Surprised by Ruth Rendell ISBN: 0345348117 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 12 August, 1987 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: A Sleeping Life by Ruth Rendell, Ruth Rendell ISBN: 0375704930 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 11 July, 2000 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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