A fond farewell
‘The most brilliant mystery writer of our time” (Patricia Cornwell’s estimation) passed away this year. British author Ruth Rendell published her first best-seller in 1964 and penned a thriller yearly ever since. She was the narrator, her characters having their say.
What stands out in her works was her understanding of human nature, a psychologist not by professional training but by personal observation and experience. Readers recognise their hidden feelings and dark thoughts. It’s uncanny and unpleasant.
One of Rendell’s literary creations was Detective Inspector Reginald Wexford, who delivered her insight. But there were stories — homicides — without him. If the law doesn’t stop perpetrators in their tracks, it is divine justice. And there are times lives are taken with some justification.
The Girl Next Door is about murders and the people they effect, directly and indirectly. It begins shortly before WWII and ends right about now. John Wormwood is the handsome son of a family barely making ends meet in Essex.
Dropping out of school at the age of 14, he finds work in a business concern in London.
The boss’s daughter is infatuated and they wed. With no skills, John is useless. When daddy dies, Anna inherits his money. John expects to push his hands into the trove, but she slaps them away. Learning that she’s unfaithful, he kills her and her lover and buries the bodies. With new clothes, he passes himself off as a gentleman.
The author extends the story to include relatives, Anna’s classmates, his neighbours, their husbands, wives, lovers. The war creates widows. They marry, spouses tend to be unfaithful, divorce, go abroad. John marries a succession of wealthy women, murdering at least one.
With the bodies of Anna and her lover found decades later, suspicion falls on John, nearing 100, with a heart murmur. What punishment can befall him?
The blurb tells us that Ruth Rendell’s swansong Dark Corners will be on bookstands before the end of this year. Whether her publishers and estate have a substitute for her in mind remains to be seen.
Adieu, dear lady. You will be sorely missed.