HYDERABAD: Ruth Rendell is the high-priestess of the country police procedural, and one of the most important names in detective fiction. Her Inspector Wexford is an important mention in the canon of detective fiction. Perhaps what is the most impressive about Ruth Rendell is her exemplary consistency. She has written volumes and volumes of mysteries, but rarely has her standards fallen — one can pick up an Inspector Wexford novel, and be fairly certain of a jolly good ride. And she was not repetitive either — she wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine for psychological crime novels, a marked difference from the Inspector Wexford whodunits, and those are rather good too.
Since our recommendation From ‘Doon With Death’ is the first in the series, it would be remiss not to give an introduction to Inspector Wexford. Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford is a middle-aged country policeman. He has a temper, and is not a man to suffer fools lightly. He is a large, ungainly man; grumpy and somewhat curmudgeonly. Just an ordinary policeman, with a stay-at-home wife and two daughters. An ordinary man, doing a job. The standardfare bumbling country policeman? Not quite. Wexford in extremely well-read, he has got a rapier-sharp intellect, is meticulous in his attention to detail, and most importantly, is remarkably persistent.
From ‘Doon With Death’ starts with the murder of Margaret Parsons, a somewhat frumpy, timid woman from Kingsmarkham. She was the epitome of nondescript: conventional, religious, homely and pretty much devoted to her husband, her garden and her church. Her life was an open book, and truth to be said, not a particularly interesting one. The first question the reader will have to deal with is — Who would ever want to murder her? But murdered she is: strangled to death, her body abandoned.As the Inspector investigates the case further, a secret from Margaret Parson’s past life tumbles to life. There’s a stash of books in her library, all of which have passionate notes of love inscribed in them by a former lover, only identified as Doon. Who is Doon? The resolution to the crime hinges on that question, and Inspector Wexford goes about to get to the end of it.
From ‘Doon With Death’ might not be as startling for today’s reader as it might have been for ones who read it in 1964, the year the novel was released, but it is still a mighty fine yarn. It’s a very satisfying detective novel, standalone, and a fine start to an important detective series.
(The writer is a business development executive in Hyderabad)