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Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford Monthly Selection - Buddy Readalong with Susan, Barbara, and the "Wexeteers"
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Bionic Jean
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Jul 15, 2020 09:18AM
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Drayton is an interesting addition. I don't remember him in other books so it will be interesting to see if he turns up.Barbara, I have to assume it follows the plot of this book. I haven't seen the episode. It is very difficult to find any of the shows over here.
Funny how once I switched to audio I was able to knock off the remaining 80% in I day. :-)This book was a mixed bag for me. I liked the way that Wexford’s character is becoming more defined, and so is Burden’s. It’s almost like a father/son relationship in that Burden seems to want to define himself in contrast to Wexford, much as a teenage boy would.
I’m not entirely comfortable with the Drayton plot line. (view spoiler).
Did anyone else pick up a whiff of misogyny? I’m trying to think of a single woman character with positive qualities and I’m coming up empty. Wexford’s wife and daughters, I guess, but we only have passing references to them. I guess most of the men are pretty unappealing as well, as far as that goes, so I may be making too much of this.
This is probably not going to end up being one of my favorites in the series, but I did enjoy it.
I agree with you, Barbara. Far from my favorite. His daughters and wife do grow into stronger characters as Burden's wife does. It's funny because she was a Member of Parliament so you think there would be a lot more strong female characters. Maybe it's the time period.
I saw this buddy read but was in the midst of another long mystery series. I put the 1st in the series on my to read list and just finished it. I am just starting this book so am trying to catch up. I thought it was the 2nd in the series so I guess I am skipping one. Amazon’s mistake I guess. I read through the discussions so far. Anyway I found the 1st warranted continuing especially since it appears it wasn’t considered the best of the series. I look forward to watching the series after reading it.
I am so happy you joined us. So far none of the books has been the best of the series but I am looking forward to the next one.
I agree that none of the women are very likable but with the exception of the main detectives neither are the men. It is worth seeing how this develops in other books in the series.
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Hopefully Susan will be back tomorrow to lead the discussion, and I'll take over the advance shout-out (announcing the title of the next book a few days in advance, like the group reads and Sherlock Holmes series buddy read) from now on, unless anyone else would like to do it? It's just a question of looking at the GR series page.
I hope everyone is as excited as I am to start The Best Man to Die tomorrow. As the New York Times Book Review says, "You cannot afford to miss Ruth Rendell."
No time to read, so I will have to listen, but I just picked up my copy.
I can't wait to hear about what you think about the Audible version.
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That's great! I'm so glad you worked out what was next and managed to order it in time!
I'm also glad to see you back Susan.
Perhaps Barbara could do the announcement a week ahead for you, if that's OK with you, Barbara? I think you read most of them, but just say if you prefer not to :)
Just to be clear, I would be sending out an announcement a few days before the beginning of each month, reminding people of which Wexford we will be reading in the following month?
No problem. I will set a reminder on my calendar.
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I found this third book in the series the first one that really grabbed me. It is more like her later books that I have read. I thought the plot was good and the characters were clearly drawn. The Drayton character was also interesting and Wexford's view of him was very interesting.
Susan, the narrator for The Best Man is new to the series, Davina Porter. I’ve enjoyed her reading previously, so I’m looking forward to this. I find it interesting that there is no consistent narrator for the series, but maybe that’s because they played “catch-up” since so many of the books were written before the advent of audiobooks.
Candy, I am 75 pages into it and I quite agree. And we are really meeting his family in this one. The daughter who wants to be an actress is really something. She brings that dog home to "babysit" and then doesn't walk him. Poor old Dad has to do it. I laughed so hard. It reminded me of my own kids.
This is certainly my favorite Wexford so far and can certainly be read as a stand alone. It is NOT to late to join in. This concerns a murder at a bachelor party of a young man with an unexplained wad pf cash. As a bonus there is a car crash that kills the husband and an unidentified woman. The survivor, a wife, swears there was no woman in the car. It is certainly interesting.
I just finished this and loved it. I can see Rendell really developing her skill in this book. I love the interactions with the self absorbed daughter, Sheila. I also found Wexford getting caught in the elevator very funny. His worst nightmare come true.
Just started it this afternoon. A much more straightforward presentation, thus far, than the first 3 books. And very engaging.
I agree, Susan, there is plenty of humor in this one! I loved Wexford's theory about husbands and wives and the size of their cars. That's pretty much still true from what I can see. I'm well into the book now and completely enjoying it. It seems as if the previous books had a sort of oblique approach to the story, whereas this one is a more conventional, though intriguing, police procedural.
Barbara, I think it's true about the cars and I laughed too. I thought this was a better one than the last ones.
Managed to finish this today. It really seems as if Rendell had figured out by this book what she wanted to do with Wexford and Burden and the Kingsmarkham police. I haven't checked it out, but I wonder if it was about this time that she began writing those rather unnerving psychological thrillers, which perhaps freed her to pursue something more traditional with this group?It was great to see Wexford's personality,, along with Crocker's finally emerge more fully. Interestingly we'd been given a pretty good sense of Burden in the earlier books.
A couple of personal asides: As so often happens when in the past few years I've read books set in England, I smile when the story ventures into places I've been (we lived about a 1/2 hour from Stamford and frequently traveled along the A1). And one night I dragged my better half to see Morris dancing at our local pub. I'd read about it so often in books like this one that I wasn't about to miss the opportunity to see it live! We often comment that if we didn't have some compelling reasons to return to the US, we both would have been happy to continue to live in England indefinitely.
Mod
"I wonder if it was about this time that she began writing those rather unnerving psychological thrillers" Out of all the books I've read by Ruth Rendell, I've alway found the Inspector Wexford ones to be the most traditional English murder mysteries, so I think you're on to something there. She certainly wanted a different "voice" for those she wrote as Barbara Vine.
I am glad I kept reading this series. Starting with this one it gets better and better. I keep my phone near to me now when I am reading so when I come across something I am unaware of I can google it then I get caught up in finding out more about it. I got into researching Morris dancing. I now make Lancashire Hotpot which was something I looked up while reading. I was intrigued since I usually only think of Chinese Hotpot. The characters are filling out more and that is bringing life to the plot. These books in this series are anything but formulaic.
I have to tell you that I ran to Wikipedia to look up Morris Dancing. I had never heard of it. What a hoot. Thanks for that heads up.I, too, love visiting places I've read about in books which set me on the Jane Austen trail. But the silliest thing I have ever done was my Monarch of the Glen quest. My friend and i were "stuck" in Scotland for an extra week when the volcano in Iceland erupted. we went on a search to find the Monarch castle. It is quite removed from the road in a very desolate area. You can only see the gatehouse. So my friend climbed over the road barrier and down a hill through trees so she could get the perfect camera shot. Crazy Americans.
First, Susan, I envy you the experience of being “stuck” in Scotland! And the over-the-fence stunt sounds like something this American would do!
It was really wonderful. We rented a car and wandered around Scotland with no itinerary. We stopped in a bookstore in a small town of Biggers and stumbled into an author reading by Maggie O'Farrell and she has become one of my favorite authors. I found the most memorable experiences are those you don't plan.
Did anyone else find Wexford’s observations on Nora and her boyfriend to be poignant?
I ve finished number 2 A New Lease of Death. I found it strange how little I liked Wexford although some of the descriptions were fun. I m sure I ve walked ‘widdershins’ round a church. Burdon is more sympathetic at this point.
I think you will like him in this book, Penny. It's a much better book.
Yes, this series is getting very good. I think you will find Wexford growing on you. The characters both the main, returning ones and the ones specific to each mystery are much fuller than in the earlier books of the series.
I noticed that too. And I don't remember the humor that this book had. I liked the introduction to his daughters.
Heads up, everyone: The next book in the Inspector Wexford series is A Guilty Thing Surprised, which we begin reading on September 1. This is the first book in the series that I remember clearly from my long-ago first readings and I'm looking forward to getting back to it!
Our library didn't have it. Our used book store didn't have it so I ordered from Amazon. It should be here before the first. I am excited since it must be memorable for you to remember it clearly.
Mod
It's such a great title, isn't it! I've read it too, but am vague (as usual) about the details.
I feel just the same, Jean! It’s the title I remember, not the story.
Susan wrote: "I think you will like him in this book, Penny. It's a much better book."hopefully - am behind as usual but I m getting there!
I am anxiously waiting for my copy of the book through the very slow mail. My library didn't have it. I hope everyone is having success at getting this book and we'll have a great time discussing it.
Just got my new copy of the book and starting it. Come join me.
I was disappointed not to find an audio version of A Guilty Thing Surprised since it is a challenge for me to find time to sit and turn pages these days. Still, this was blessedly short and I whipped through it on Kindle in no time. As I read I couldn't help thinking about how so many crime novels written in recent years are so looooong. Clearly the length is justified at times, but often it feels as if the authors are being paid by the word. One of the joys of reading older books is that either they started out to be more concise, or there was more blue ink in the pens of wise editors.
I didn't enjoy this as much as the previous. Although the principal characters are well settled into their final forms now and the interactions among them were enjoyable (loved Crocker's sliced bread non sequitur!), they do show small developments in personality that make them more human and less caricature. I guess my small issue with the book is that I am not as much of a Wordsworth enthusiast as Wexford and other characters, and thus some of the plot points didn't jump out at me as quickly as they might for others. Still, Wexford's ruminations on aging added an engaging element, and it turned out to be an enjoyable read.
I think Mike Burden is a real stick in the mud. He is so horrified that a younger man could lust after an older woman. Get over yourself.
Lol!!! Burden is definitely stuck in 1950’s vintage traditional values. I can’t remember whether he lightens up at all as the series goes on, but I look forward to finding out.
I know what you mean. He has an outstanding wife so maybe she will loosen him up.
He really is a 'burden' at times :-)
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