Community Library Notes: Good Reads
“The Best Man to Die” by Ruth Rendell is the story of Jack, who is getting married in the morning. His buddies go to the bar to celebrate his last night as a bachelor. Charlie, his best man, gets there late and buys doubles for everyone with a wad of bills in his hand. At the end of the evening, Jack, Charlie, and Maurice walk down the road. They meet and greet Inspector Burden along the way, and Jack and Charlie go off alone, and Charlie heads home to Lilian.
Detective Chief Inspector Wexford finds a dog in his chair at home that his daughter Sheila, a drama student, has brought home for a short stay. Clymenestra, the dog, howls, wants to go out. Sheila is doing her hair and face, so Wexford must take her. She’s a moth-eaten beast but walks proudly. Wexford walks to the river, and author Rendell describes the fields, the flats, and the red cattle. He lets the dog run, and Clymnestra finds a pile of rubbish, and a lifeless hand points at Wexford from it. The body has been hit on the head with a rock, and a man walking by gets sick. Wexford tells the man to go into town and call the station. They’ll know what to do. The man is Maurice, and he recognizes the dead man. It’s Charlie Hatton.
Jack admires himself in the mirror and knows Charlie, his best man, will look good too. Thanks to
Charlie, they have a lovely flat waiting for them after their honeymoon. After Wexford and Burden have told Lilian the awful news, she cries non-stop. She tells her mom, who has come in, the green wedding dress was unlucky.
They go next to Jack’s house, and his father answers the door and tells Jack the bad news. They ask Jack’s father, who was at the stag party last night. Jack says the wedding’s off and to go to the church to tell all the guests. Burden is disgusted with Jack’s display of grief, says that’s a widow’s task. They go to see George Carter, who says Charlie had wads of money that night and a host of enemies at the pub. But Wexford tells Burden there was nothing in his wallet when he found Charlie. They climb the stairs to Wexford’s office; it’s suitable for his blood pressure. Charlie had his lorry hijacked twice that year, Burden says. He hadn’t been hurt, only tied up.
Dr. Crocker arrives on the scene and comments on Charlie’s teeth. They were beautiful, the best false teeth that a lot of money could buy.
Mrs. Fenshaw has now come home and out of a coma from an accident where her husband drove their Jaguar and killed himself and their daughter. She says her husband was driving too fast and insists her daughter was not in the car. The nurse says she’ll post a letter to the daughter when she goes for her tea. The nurse is amazed when told the daughter is dead.
Wexford goes to see Callum at his house, a filthy shabby place with an over-worked wife and many miserable children. Callum tells Wexford about a night when he went to a café with Charlie and saw a man in a black car outside the lorry. He’d heard Charlie say into a phone box, “Tell Mr. McClog it’s no dice.” Charlie was white as a sheet when he saw Callum watching him. Wexford goes home and listens to Shiela talk about her dental appointment with Doctor Vilgo. She likes him a lot.
Burden and Wexford go to the river where Charlie was murdered. Wexford thinks Cullam might be a suspect who stole the hundred pounds as he’s so poor. They’ll watch him. Burden finds a smooth stone and hands it to Wexford, who raises it and brings it down hard. He imagines it hitting Charlie on his skull.
They go to have another chat with Charlie’s wife at her house, which is lavishly decorated with velvet curtains and a color television. He’d been a lorry driver, as was Callum, but both had different living styles. Jack’s mother-in-law said he had side-lines that furnished their house. Everyone knew his money had come illegally, everyone except Burden and Wexford. Wexford looks at Charlie’s bank book and notices several stubs have been torn out. Mrs.
Haddon, the mother-inlaw, admits Charlie’s false teeth are new from Doctor Vigo. Wexford goes to the bank and learns that one hundred pounds were paid in after each hijacking date and five hundred at last. Why would Charlie get five hundred for the stuff in his lorry?
Meanwhile, a beautiful woman gets off a train from London and goes to the Royal Hospital to Mrs. Fenshaw’s room. She says she’s Nora. “Oh no,” says nurse Rose, “You aren’t Nora, You’re dead.”
Wexford goes to see Doctor Vigo and is awed by the Chinese décor in the waiting room. Doctor Vigo tells Wexford how Charlie had wanted a new set of very good dentures and was willing to pay a hefty sum.
Wexford wonders how Charlie had obtained his money. Does he think of blackmail? At the station, Nora presents her passport to prove her identity. Her aunt had died the charred body as her niece, but was it really? Wexford sees Dr. Vigo’s wife come in carrying a baby and recalls they had another child, a mongoloid, confined to an institution. Wexford gets a huge bill for his daughter’s dental care from Doctor Vigo.
Lady Rendell has spun a complex mystery about Charlie’s murder, and there are many questions: Was it blackmail? How was Doctor Virgo involved? Who was the dead girl on the road? Find this complex mystery on the new mystery shelf of your local library.