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Speaking to all fans of Ruth Rendell

26 replies

rosegoldwatcher · 23/11/2020 19:31

I have been inspired to start this thread after listening to A Good Read on Radio 4Extra this evening.
One of the guests recommended Ruth's A Judgement In Stone - one of her early novels. Russell Kane audibly shuddered when describing the main character and it struck me that yes - this is my reaction to nearly all, if not all, of the protagonist in her books. (NB - I am not considering here her Inspector Wexford books, nor those written under her pseudonym, Barbara Vine.)

So - if you are a fan - which of her books is your favourite? Can you precis the plot in a sentence or two?
This could be a very short thread if there are few RR appreciators out there!

Mine is A Sight For Sore Eyes.
Damaged but beautiful Teddy's obsession with providing perfection for his ideal woman Francine leads to murder and incarceration in a place far worse than a prison cell.

OP posts:
Welshwabbit · 24/11/2020 07:50

Are we allowed to have Wexfords or Barbara Vines? Apart from A Judgment in Stone her other non-Vine standalone are not my favourites. If I can move outside that box, I love:

An Unkindness of Ravens: the murder of a bigamist throws Wexford into a group of very different women and causes him to muse on feminism.

A Dark-Adapted Eye (Vine): psychological tour de force in which a woman investigates how her aunt came to be hanged for committing murder.