Wexford Omnibus (Third): Some Die and Some Lie / Shake Hands Forever / A Sleeping Life

by Ruth Rendell

The Third Wexford "Some Lie and Some Die", "Shake Hands for Ever" and "Sleeping Life" 3rd Rendell, Ruth

Genres: Mystery, Crime

544 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

A.K.A. Barbara Vine

Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.

Reviews

[Pat Morris-jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books were very readable and enjoyable. I was a little astonished by last book in this omnibus though. It was published in 1994. Yes years ago yet it seemed to be obsessed with people’s race and colour. Of course, I would like to say, it was of it’s day. However I was an adult then and it certainly was not. No we didn’t worry about such things as much. I just wondered why she went on about it so much. In other books I rarely noticed anything, just occasional reference to this topic, in passing. Here she, in her description of people, mentioned race and colour a lot. If necessary that’s fine. This wasn’t necessary to plot at all. The characters she described could have been any race or colour without affecting the story at all.
Anyway. Apart from that ( sorry to have gone on so long about one aspect of one book) it was ok. Not fabulous but ok. 3 and a half I think.

[Rose Auburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readable as ever, I thoroughly enjoyed getting stuck into this Omnibus. However, I did find the second story weak. It seemed a bit odd to me - as a reader, there appeared a few loose ends hanging and an obvious narrative line involving the main character's daughter was completely unexplored and never really tied up. You were left with a large part of the story meandering as Wexford was removed from the case and then very quickly resolved with a character that wasn't really explained. It was not quite up to usual Wexford. But if you like Wexford, you will find plenty to enjoy here.

[Meg Dyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

middle book great - first and last a bit less good