** spoiler alert ** A disappointing book from Ruth Rendell! It’s nicely set in the Portobello area of London and that is perhaps the best thing about the book. The lives of various residents of Portobello intersect, but there is not the gripping psychological tension that you expect from Ruth Rendell. Eugene Wren is a wealthy middle-aged gallery owner engaged to a local doctor, Ella Cotswold. His is a secretive nature and he attempts to hide his “addiction” to sugar-free Chocorange sweets from his fiancé. This addiction threatens to come between them. Wren’s discovery of an envelope filled with money brings them into contact with minor criminal Lance Platt, who lives with his Uncle Gib, a reformed thief and religious zealot. Lance attempts to claim the money but the proper owner Joel Roseman has already been identified when Lance turns up. Joel is a strange character, a “remittance man” whose father pays him to keep away. He meets Ella when she returns the envelope of money on Eugene’s behalf. He’s recovering from a heart attack and near death experience and asks Ella to take him on as a private patient.