For the letter R in Kerrie´s alphabet meme I would like to revive some posts from last year about Reg Wexford, Ruth Rendell´s long-standing protagonist.I just realised that it was Ruth Rendell´s 80th birthday yesterday(Feb 17th) so my post is quite ´timely´.
I started out on an ambitious project in February last year. I wanted to re-read all the Wexford novels to see how much Wexford (and Michael Burden) developed over time. I read ten novels in the course of a month, but then I joined my first online writing course, and since then I am afraid I have been a bit less ambitious when it comes to blogging.
But here you have my three Reg Wexford posts:
Meet Reg wexford 1
Meet Reg Wexford 2
Meet Reg Wexford 3
And an additional ´Burden´ for you.
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12 kommentarer:
Dorte - An excellent choice for "R!" Thanks for thinking of Rendell and, of course, Reg Wexford; he's a terrific character.
I LOVE Rendell. She's one of my very favorite authors and the perfect pick for "R!"
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Thanks for this excellent post Dorte.
I've not read any of her Wexford novels. In fact, the only Ruth Rendell I have read is "The Rottweiler". A friend gave it to me for Christmas one year knowing that Rottweilers are my favorite dog breed. The novel was quite good if I remember correctly.
Margot, Elizabeth and Jose: Rendell (and also Barbara Vine) is one of my all-time favourites.
Kelly: The Rottweiler is good, but in my opinion it is very far from her best novel. Her Wexford novels have always been good, and she has developed very much as a writer over the years. In the 80s and 90s she began taking up social issues such as illegal immigrants, abuse of women and environment, and that made her novels even better. She is strongly recommended!
Dorte, as best you can tell, what are the notable differences between books by Rendell versus those by "Vine"? In other words, how does the writing (or themes) so differ that Rendell writes under different names. I ask as someone who has only a superficial familiarity with the woman's work (under either name).
R.T: When she writes as Ruth Rendell, it is mostly fine police procedurals with solid plots. Around half of them feature Reg Wexford and Michael Burden (my favourites), others are stand-alones. Some of these are also outstanding, e.g. A Judgement in Stone and The Bridesmaid (and to be honest some of these could also be called psychological thrillers).
When she writes as Barbara Vine, the focus is on psychological thrillers. My favourites are A Dark-Adapted Eye, A Fatal Inversion, King Solomon´s Carpet, Asta´s Book and The Chimney Sweeper´s Boy (a brilliant thriller!)
Wexford is one of my favorite fictional detectives, and Rendell is one of my favorite mystery writers. I've never been drawn to any of her Barbara Vine works, though.
Belle: perhaps that proves she was wise when she adopted a pen name for her thrillers. They are different, though, but the five I have recommended above are very memorable, I think.
Thanks for highlighting another of my favourite authors and detective characters Dorte, and of course for supporting the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme.
Kerrie, did you know it was Rendell´s 80th birthday the other day? I saw a post about it yesterday. So really, it is a most suitable R-post :D
No I din't realise that Dorte. Thanks
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