From Doon With Death: A Wexford Case - 50th Anniversary Edition (Wexford, 1)

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Read all Margaret Parsons, a fairly ordinary housewife who, with her water board official husband Ron, has recently moved to Kingsmarkham, is found murdered in a field. There is a strong sociological commentary throughout, in this book in particular as far as class differences and sexual politics go and author's attitude is stunningly, notably progressive for the time. I was a little less fond of the use of a trap which is used to prove a case – something that I think is usually pretty uninventive and underwhelming in these sorts of stories.

Margaret Parsons was a shy, unexceptional woman who lived a Spartan existence with her dour husband in a decrepit Victorian house.As one reads the novel it's important to realize that it was originally published in 1964 and reveals British law at the time of publication. While it is a manipulative move designed to try to add power to his explanation at the end, I think that information is only needed if something does not occur to the reader that they might figure out for themselves. Indeed, From Doon With Death, the first Wexford novel, focuses on the mystery of the death of a somewhat rather dowdy housewife who goes missing and then turns up dead. One of my favourite books is A Sight for Sore Eyes, a standalone by Ruth Rendell, a mystery where she masterfully took a few storylines that ultimately converged.

This was written in 1964 and my dad would have been 43 and Wexford was 52 so they were close in age. In From Doon with Death, Ruth Rendell instantly mastered the form that would become synonymous with her name.

BUT, what was interesting, was the psychology of Rendells' characters; it sets the book apart from just being a routine who dun it. I kind of get a kick out of reading books that have Shocking Content (for their time), but because of the way society has evolved, the content that was shocking before is no longer shocking and indeed has become sort of — you know.

It will be interesting to see Rendell's style develop as I continue with the series as part of a group read. Pretty standard mystery fare, including the resolution, though apparently the resolution was Very Shocking at the time. As the woman's past is investigated the husband is either oblivious or may be among the numerous suspects. A man reports his wife missing, and the police don't take him very seriously because she's only been missing a few hours. It isn’t as brilliant as A Dark-Adapted Eye, for example, but it’s a solid detective murder mystery and I enjoyed it.

It then says that a read-through of Rendell’s oeuvre is like reading a social history of England from 1964 to the present. It is not a case of intuition, it is the answer to the mystery in so many words, in a conversation between the detective and another party, to which the reader is not privy to. I am reading some contemporary detective series, but i am getting tired of the alternate timelines and multiple POVs.