Six Degrees of Separation: From The Optimist's Daughter to Wave Me Goodbye

 

The Six Degrees of Separation meme is hosted by Kate at booksaremyfavoriteandbest. The idea behind the meme is to start with a book and use common points between two books to end up with links to six books, forming a chain. The common points may be obvious, like a word in the title or a shared theme, or more personal. Every month Kate provides the title of a book as the starting point. Last month she did not supply a title and asked us to start with the last book on our previous Six Degrees post. So for me, the starting book will be The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty.

The Optimist's Daughter was published in 1972 and won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Laurel McKelva Hand is a widow, living and working in Chicago. Laurel returns to her hometown in Mississippi for her father's funeral. The story explores her relationship with her father, her mother who died when she was younger, and her new stepmother who is much younger than her father and has inherited the house that Laurel grew up in. It also focuses on her memories of losing her husband during World War II, not very long after they were married. There is a lot of depth to the novel, which is only 180 pages long.

1st degree:

I chose the first book in my chain, Kissing the Gunner's Daughter, because of the title, the mention of a daughter. It is a perfect link, because there are two daughters that figure in the story. This is the 15th book in the Ruth Rendell Inspector Wexford series. A family is attacked at dinner time and a famous author and her daughter and son-in-law are killed. Only the teenage granddaughter lives through the attack. And while Wexford is investigating this horrible crime, he is worried about his daughter Sheila, who is in a relationship he disapproves of. Kissing the Gunner's Daughter is a dark story of psychological suspense.

2nd degree:

My next book, Henrietta Who?, is also a police procedural mystery which features a daughter. Grace Jenkins has been killed in a hit and run accident. When her daughter is called home from college, Henrietta learns that she cannot be Grace's daughter because the woman has never had a child. This is not only the search for a murderer but also the story of a very young woman coming to terms with questions about her parents and her origins.

3rd degree:

My next book in the chain takes me to The Hollow by Agatha Christie, which features another character named Henrietta. This is the 25th book in the Hercule Poirot series although as I remember it, there is not much of Poirot in the book. The story is built around a country house weekend; the characters are interesting, somewhat quirky, and all seem to be hiding something. Henrietta Savernake is a successful sculptor who is in love with Dr. John Christow, who has a wife and children.

4th degree:

Gallows Court is the first book in a relatively new series by Martin Edwards featuring Rachel Savernake, the daughter of a hanging judge, and an amateur sleuth. The setting is London in the 1930s. I have not read this book but the series is doing well and I am eager to try it soon.

5th degree:

My next link is to Perfect Gallows by Peter Dickinson. This book is about a murder that occurs in 1944 in the UK, on an estate occupied by US forces preparing for the invasion of France. It is primarily set during World War II, with a framing story set in 1988. Peter Dickinson was a wonderful writer who has written many books in the mystery and fantasy genres.

6th degree:

Using World War II as a link, my next book is Wave Me Goodbye: Stories of the Second World War. The book is comprised of short stories that take place during the war or the years immediately afterward; the authors are all women and all but one story was written during that time. The stories are mostly home front stories. I have read only a few stories in that book so far.

My chain starts out in Mississippi in the US but moves to the UK after that. Was there any connection between the first book and the last? Only the tenuous connection to World War II because the death of Laurel's husband was connected to that conflict.

Have you read any of these books? And where did your list take you, if you participated in this month's Six Degrees meme?

The next Six Degrees will be on March 2, 2024, and the starting book will be Tom Lake by Ann Patchett.

Short Story Wednesday: The Fever Tree by Ruth Rendell

This collection contains 10 short stories and one novella. None of them are Inspector Wexford stories. 

All of the stories are excellent.  Usually I avoid Ruth Rendell's standalone novels; they are too intense for me. But I have found these short stories, although they have the same elements, to be good reads. They have just enough suspense. 

The stories are:

• The Fever Tree
• The Dreadful Day of Judgement
• A Glowing Future
• An Outside Interest
• A Case of Coincidence
• Thornapple (novella)
• May and June
• A Needle for the Devil
• Front Seat
• Paintbox Place
• The Wrong Category

Here are some notes on the stories I especially liked:

The Fever Tree

One of the shorter stories. A husband makes a last effort to save his marriage on a visit to an African game preserve, with unexpected results.

A Glowing Future

An unfaithful lover asks his old girlfriend to help pack his belongings for shipping to his new lover in Australia.

An Outside Interest 

First sentence: "Frightening people used to be a hobby of mine."

Thornapple 

This is the longest story in the book. It is told from the viewpoint of a young boy whose hobby is distilling poisons from plants. Very well told, with several unsympathetic characters.

May and June

May is jilted by her rich, handsome boyfriend when he meets her beautiful sister, June. They marry and May obsesses about this for years. 

A Needle for the Devil

My favorite story in the collection. A nurse who loves to knit meets an older retired man who is ready to get married. After marriage, they are both intolerant of the other needs, which leads to some extreme measures. The best part: a friend who is a mystery writer who kept spouting the most ingenious ways to kill people and not be detected.

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Publisher:   Ballantine Books, 1984. Orig. pub. 1982.
Length:      183 pages
Format:      Paperback
Setting:      UK
Genre:       Mystery, short stories
Source:      I purchased my copy.

Reading Summary for February 2016

I read a wide variety of books this month but the total was not very high. Not that this is a competition but I do usually like to read at least five or six. I have lowered my goal at Goodreads this year to 52 (to make more room for reading short stories) so four or five a month is a good average, and I did meet that.

I did read one graphic novel, The Secret Service: Kingsman.

Summary at Goodreads:

A British secret agent feels guilty about never spending time with his deadbeat sister and takes his wayward nephew under his wing after he's arrested in the London riots. The boy is heading straight for a jail cell until his uncle steps in and tries to give him a new life, training him to be a gentleman spy.

It was an interesting concept, but there wasn't a lots of depth. I will be watching the movie adaptation and then reviewing them together.

Now for the four crime fiction books I read this month:

Web of Deceit by Katherine Howell

Although this is the sixth book in an eight book series, this is only the third book by Howell that I have read. I read the first two books, Frantic and The Darkest Hour. (I liked all three of them.)

From a post at Petrona:

In one sense, the books are police procedurals, as Detective Ella Marconi and her colleagues investigate the crime that forms the basic plot of the book. In another sense, the books are “slice of life” dramas about the city’s paramedics, given great authenticity by the fact that the author was a paramedic before she became a full-time writer.

Maxine also mentions the pacing in the books, which is the element that drew me in when I read the first book. And I forgot to mention that Howell is an Australian author and the book is set in Sydney.

13 at Dinner by Agatha Christie

13 at Dinner is the seventh novel featuring Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the UK in 1933 as Lord Edgware Dies. Poirot is approached by the well known actress, Jane Wilkinson, to mediate for her to convince her husband, Lord Edgware, to give her a divorce. She states very openly that things would be much better for her if he was dead. A couple of days later, Lord Edgware is murdered. The rest of the book has Scotland Yard Inspector Japp and Poirot following leads to discover the murderer.

This was not my favorite Agatha Christie book but it was still very entertaining. Hastings narrates the story and there are lots of interesting characters. My full review here.

What is Mine by Anne Holt

This is serial killer book about the abduction of children, not the kind of book I normally seek out. And, to tell the truth, I don't know if I knew the subject when I bought it (10 years ago).  But, even so, I liked the book a lot. I liked the way the story was told, and I liked the characters. The setting in Norway is also a plus. So this one was a winner for me.

What is Mine was the English language debut of Anne Holt, a Norwegian author, and the first book in the Vik and Stubo series. Several novels in the Hanne Wilhelmsen series were published prior to this one in Norway, and most of the books in both series have now been translated into English and published in the US and the UK.

Kissing the Gunner's Daughter by Ruth Rendell

This was Ruth Rendell's fifteenth Inspector Wexford book, and it has a very good reputation. Based on reviews I had read, I had very high expectations, and unfortunately was disappointed. Not to say that this was a bad book; we are talking about Ruth Rendell here. As usual, Ruth Rendell is a good storyteller and very adept at creating interesting characters. Except for the policemen, the characters were not very likable, but that is fine. My full review here.

The Crime Fiction Pick of the Month meme is hosted at Mysteries in Paradise. Bloggers link to summary posts for the month, and identify a crime fiction best read of the month.

My pick this month is What is Mine by Anne Holt. I will be reviewing it soonish, but for now you can check out Bernadette's review at Reactions to Reading and Rebecca's review at Ms. Wordopolis Reads.

Kissing the Gunner's Daughter: Ruth Rendell

It seems that those who read Ruth Rendell's crime fiction are divided between those who prefer the puzzle plots of the Wexford books and the fans of her standalone novels, which are primarily psychological thrillers. I am in the camp that prefers the Inspector Wexford series, and I have read nearly all of them. For my taste, the standalone books are too tense and uncomfortable. However, many reviewers have compared this book, Kissing the Gunner's Daughter, to her psychological thrillers, and I suppose it is closer to them than most of the Wexford books. The book does have its dark elements and most of the characters (except for the policemen) and not very pleasant people.

The book has a wonderful opening chapter. Detective Sergeant Martin of Kingsmarkham CID drives his son to school and along the way discovers that his son has a replica gun in his case. Martin takes the very large and dangerous-looking replica gun and puts it in his pocket. It is his day off and he stops at a bank; while there, the bank is robbed while he is still in the queue for the cashier. Things go badly, and DS Martin dies at the scene. We are told from the beginning that this incident will link up to later deaths.

The bank robbery and the murder of Martin is not solved over the next few months. Then there is a bloody incident at Tancred, home of the wealthy and well-known author Davina Flory. Several members of the family are killed, and Davina's 17-year-old granddaughter, Daisy, has been left for dead. She survives and is the only witness to the crime. Her memories of it are shaky at best. On the face of it, the crime seems to be a robbery gone wrong.

There are many inconsistencies that the police cannot reconcile. Tancred is isolated and on a large wooded estate; tracking arrivals and departures is difficult. There is a friend of Davina's daughter (Daisy's mother) who has left town inexplicably and cannot be found. Daisy's father, never a part of her life, is investigated. Daisy's moods swing violently, sometimes she is inconsolable, sometimes euphoric.

Thus the story begins very well, and in general, it is a good mystery. But I was still disappointed in this novel. The ending was no surprise at all to me and it takes a long time to get there. A good bit of time is spent on Wexford's relationship with his daughter, Sheila, who is planning to marry a man that Wexford detests. Those issues are a counterpoint to his relationship with Daisy, with whom he has to spend a good deal of time, yet it still grew tiresome to me.

Even with my reservations, I don't regret reading the book, and I would encourage others to do so. Overall, Ruth Rendell is a good storyteller and very adept at creating interesting characters. Some reviewers consider it the best Wexford book. Many were surprised and shocked by the ending. My recommendation is to give it a chance; there are many elements to enjoy.

For a much more positive take on this book, see the review at The Passing Tramp.


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Publisher:  Mysterious Press, 1993. Orig. pub. 1992.
Length:     378 pages
Format:     Paperback
Series:      Inspector Wexford, #15
Setting:     UK
Genre:      Police procedural
Source:    My husband found this book for me in a San Jose bookstore, 2008.

Deal Me In 2015: Story #3 ("The Case of the Shaggy Caps" by Ruth Rendell)

Every other week I draw a random card to determine what short story I will read for the Deal Me In Short Story challenge. What are the odds that I would pick two Ruth Rendell stories in a row? Last week I read a story by Ruth Rendell and the protagonist was Inspector Wexford. I had forgotten that I had included two stories by that author in my list, and that both featured her series character.

It was a happy accident, because it gave me the opportunity to compare the stories. This story is from Murder on the Menu, but it was first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in November 1977. By 1977, nine Inspector Wexford novels had been published. One of Rendell's most well-known standalone novels, A Judgement in Stone, was published in 1977. The story that I read (review here) two weeks ago, "The Mouse in the Corner," was first published in 1991 so they were written 14 years apart.

"The Case of the Shaggy Caps" by Ruth Rendell

Wexford partners with Inspector Burden, and their relationship is one of the best parts of this series. Here is Rendell's description of the two in this story:

Wexford, getting on for sixty, was a tall, ungainly, rather ugly  man who had once been fat to the point of obesity but had slimmed to gauntness for reasons of health. Nearly twenty years his junior, Burden had the slenderness of a man who has always been thin. His face was ascetic, handsome in a frosty way. The older man, who had a good wife who looked after him devotedly, nevertheless always looked as if his clothes came off the peg from the War on Want Shop, while the younger, a widower, was sartorially immaculate.

In this story, Hannah Kingman's death was the result of a fall from the balcony of a 5th floor apartment in a high rise. Wexford has been on a holiday in Italy, and Burden has been handling the case, which was initially thought to be suicide. Then Hannah's brother comes in and accuses Hannah's husband of attempting to poison her a week before her death at a dinner party. The party was attended by only four people, Hannah, her husband, the brother, and the husband's ex-girlfriend. Burden was convinced that something fishy is going on but the evidence doesn't agree.

This is another substantial and enjoyable story, where Wexford and Burden solve a mystery, although they may have trouble proving that they are right. The story is fairly long, about 28 pages in the paperback that I read. Even at that length there is not much room for characterization beyond the two investigators, who have an interesting relationship. Burden has his prejudices, and Wexford is the voice of reason.

My Deal Me In list of short stories is here. Jay at Bibliophilopolis hosts the challenge. Every week he gathers links from participants. If you are interested in a wide variety of short stories (and sometimes essays and poems), try his latest Wrap Up post.

Deal Me In 2015: Story #2 ("The Mouse in the Corner" by Ruth Rendell)

Every other week in 2015 I will be drawing one card from a deck to randomly pick from a group of short shories. This is an experiment to see if I will grow to appreciate short stories more if I give them a chance. As usual I have gotten very into this new project and wish I had chosen to read one a week. (My Deal Me In list of short stories is here. Jay at Bibliophilopolis hosts the challenge.)

So far I have had only good experiences. My second card was the 10 of hearts, and the story is "The Mouse in the Corner" by Ruth Rendell. Ruth Rendell is an author of mystery and suspense novels, but she also has written a lot of short stories. This one was first published in 1991 in Esquire Magazine, but I found the story in a collection titled 1st Culprit: A Crime Writers' Annual edited by Liza Cody and Michael Z. Lewin.

"The Mouse in the Corner" is an Inspector Wexford story. Rendell has written a long series featuring Wexford and his second-in-command, Mike Burden. In this short mystery, Wexford is investigating the death of Tom Peterlee, beaten to death in his own home. His body is discovered by his stepdaughter, Arlene, who lives in a caravan close by. Tom and his wife, his brother and his wife, and his mother all live in separate cottages in very close proximity to each other. Wexford thinks that Tom's wife is the guilty party but she is alibied by a friend who lives nearby. He keeps returning to talk to Arlene to try to break down her testimony.

At least in the earlier books in the series, Mike Burden is an opinionated and prejudiced man. This story gives a glimpse of that behavior and the contrast between Mike and his boss.

Why was he so sure Arlene Heddon had the answer? Mike Burden, his second-in-command at Kingsmarkham CID, said with contempt that at any rate she was more attractive than the sister-in-law and the widow. With his usual distaste for those whose lives failed to approximate fairly closely to his own, he spoke scathingly of ‘the Peterlee girl’ as if having no job and no proper roof over one’s head directly conduced to homicide.
‘Her name,’ Wexford said rather dourly, ‘is Heddon. It was her father’s name. Heather Peterlee, if you remember, was a Mrs Heddon before she re-married.’ He added, wondering as he did so why he bothered to indulge Burden’s absurd prejudices. ‘A widow, incidentally.’
Quick as a flash, Burden came back with, ‘What did her first husband die of?’
‘Oh God, Mike, some bone disease. We went into all that. But back to Arlene Heddon; she’s a very intelligent young woman, you know.’
‘No, I don’t know. You must be joking. Intelligent girls don’t live on benefit in caravans with unemployed welders.’
‘What a snob you are.’
‘Married welders. I’m not just a snob, I’m a moralist. Intelligent girls do well at school, go on to further education, get suitable well-paid jobs and buy themselves homes on mortgages.’
‘Somehow and somewhere along the line Arlene Heddon missed out on that. In any case, I didn’t say she was academically inclined. She’s sharp, she’s clever, she’s got a good brain.’

In the end, Wexford gets the answer but not the one he expected. The story has some interesting social commentary and a twist at the end.

The story is quite substantial and satisfying. It was made into an episode of the Ruth Rendell Mysteries in 1992.

The Vault: Ruth Rendell

In The Vault, Ruth Rendell has done something very unusual. She has written a sequel to a stand alone novel (published twelve years earlier) and the sequel is a part of an on-going series. The Vault is the 23rd novel in the Inspector Wexford series. The crime that is investigated in this book is related to the events in that earlier book, A Sight for Sore Eyes, which did not feature Wexford, or for that matter any police detectives.

This is another enjoyable book in the Inspector Wexford series, although in this one Wexford is officially retired. He and his wife are living part time in London and a policeman he has worked with in the past asks for his assistance in a case. Unpaid, as a consultant. This is a very different experience for him, since he has no standing as a policeman. He can either notify the persons he is interviewing that they do not have to talk to him, or go along with another detective. Both situations have good and bad sides.

This is also a story about Wexford after retirement. Wexford has become quite a walker while living in London, and the walks he takes during the investigation are described in great detail. We are privy to his inner dialogues about the beauty of the city, the joys of walking, the joys and challenges of retirement. In the earlier Wexford book I read, The Monster in the Box, there is an emphasis on how books have always been important in Wexford's life. The love of books continues in this book.

I have noted in recent reviews that the Wexford books have a slow pace. A lot of the story is about Wexford's personal life. This may not be to everyone's taste.

Rendell is a very skilled writer, no matter what kind of story she is telling. She delves into relationships between co-workers, family members, neighbors. She develops major and minor characters in great detail. She conveys all of this as the story develops.

I am deliberately avoiding detail about the actual crime being investigated in this novel, in case readers want to start with the earlier book, A Sight for Sore Eyes, published in 1998, which did not feature Wexford. I found it to be a satisfying story, but I don't know how much that was colored by having just read the novel that sets up the situation. I can see benefits to reading it both ways, without the background and with.

Links to my reviews of books by Ruth Rendell:
The Monster in the Box (2009)
A Sight for Sore Eyes (1998)

A Sight for Sore Eyes: Ruth Rendell

British crime-writer Ruth Rendell is a well-known mystery author who has won many awards for her writing.  She was born in 1930; thus she is 82 years old. And she published two novels in 2012.

This book is one of Ruth Rendell's stand alone psychological thrillers. Rendell has written 23 novels in the Inspector Wexford series. She has written roughly 40 non-series mysteries, some written under the name Barbara Vine.

In A Sight for Sore Eyes (1998), we have the story of Teddy Brex, a misfit in society, and it isn't clear whether his personality is a result of nature or nurture. His parents ignored him as a child, but they also have deviant characteristics. Due to natural artistic talent, he has some success but doesn't know how to have relationships. We also follow the story of a young girl who has been damaged by the murder of her mother and a subsequent over-nurturing, over-protective stepmother. The two stories come together in a chilling way.

The British Council Literature site has many insights into the writings of Ruth Rendell. Here are some comments on the stand alone thrillers.

The exploration of the darker impulses engendered by society’s established codes is even more evident in Rendell’s mystery thrillers which do not feature Wexford. Without the institutional presence of the detective, Rendell herself becomes the investigator and she unveils the connections between crime and social and economic disadvantage.

Also

Her books, hard to categorize as 'popular' or 'genre fiction', are set in a fundamentally amoral world (which is how Rendell describes our contemporary society) and her endings take an unexpectedly more open turn than we would expect from mystery stories: the crime may be solved, but no salvation or redemption occurs and the tensions which generated it in the first place are left unanswered.

Ruth Rendell's writing is always worth reading; the story is told well; the characters are all interesting, even the minor characters. In this novel, the author seems not to take a position or judge, but just tell the story as it develops and see what happens. One character isn't bad and another good; just characters living out their lives. In these cases, very unusual lives.

I have read less of the non-Wexford novels, so would not consider myself an expert on those. The Wexford novels seem to me to be slower, less intense. A Sight for Sore Eyes moved at a faster pace for me, but because the subject matter was off-putting, I had a harder time getting through it. Inspector Wexford novels are comfort reading; the stand alone novels are much harder to digest.

So, the overall verdict is: a great read, I do recommend it for those who like this kind of story. Reading this book, very much outside of my comfort zone, was an experiment and it helped me to appreciate Rendell's writing even more than I had previously.  But I am not in a hurry to read another of her psychological thrillers.

I recently reviewed The Monster in the Box, the 22nd book in the Inspector Wexford series. I am currently reading the 23rd book in the series, The Vault, which is a sequel (of a sort) to A Sight for Sore Eyes.

The Monster in the Box: Ruth Rendell

The Monster in the Box (2009), by British crime-writer Ruth Rendell, is the 22nd in the Inspector Wexford series.

I have been reading novels by Ruth Rendell for at least 30 years, and quite possibly longer. I am a fan of the Inspector Wexford series primarily, but I have also read my share of the stand alone novels, including some that were written as Barbara Vine. To be honest, the stand alone novels have often been too full of psychological tension for me; I did not enjoy them and I stopped reading them years ago. But I have kept up with the Wexford series.

Nevertheless, I was surprised to read of all the awards that she has won throughout her writing career. She is the recipient of the 1997 Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and the 1991 Cartier Diamond Dagger for a Lifetime's Achievement. She won the Edgar Award for A Dark-Adapted Eye, and received Gold Dagger awards for A Fatal Inversion, Live Flesh, and A Demon in my View. And many other awards.

This book, The Monster in the Box, meanders along and doesn't have any great reveals of criminal culprits, yet the story telling and the characterization is so well done that I enjoyed it immensely.  The book centers on an obsession that Wexford has. He has seen again, after many years, a man who has stalked him off and on through most of his (Wexford's) adult life. Wexford believes him to be guilty of an unsolved murder from early in his career. And he wants very much to prove this.

A second story that we follow in this book is about a young Moslem girl whose family may be forcing her into an arranged marriage. There is a connection between the two "cases" -- neither is officially a case at the beginning. But the connection may be only coincidence.

Possibly I enjoyed this novel so much because it tells a story of Wexford's early career and how he met Dora, his wife, and combines that with the current happenings as he approaches retirement. Having read most of the series, this was like being with old friends. I like the friendship and working relationship of Wexford and his longtime partner, Mike Burden. I like the continuity.

I am now reading another book by Rendell, A Sight for Sore Eyes, published in 1998. This book is a stand alone book. I am reading it because I want to read The Vault, which is the next Wexford book, , and a sequel to A Sight for Sore Eyes. So I will be ending my reading year with Ruth Rendell books.

Book Beginnings: The Monster in the Box

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a meme with this theme: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

Visit the post at Rose City Reader and view the other links and get a glimpse of books you may not be familiar with.


The first two sentences in the book I am currently reading are:

He had never told anyone. The strange relationship, if it could be called that, had gone on for years, decades, and he had never breathed a word about it.

The book is The Monster in the Box by Ruth Rendell.

This is the 22nd book in the Inspector Wexford series and it is the next to the last in the series (so far). So I am nearly done with this series. And then I am going to start all over again, since I have all the books. (Actually, I have already read the first book in the series, From Doon with Death, for the second time, and am ready to read the second one.)

In this book, Wexford is nearing the end of his career as a policeman, and he is remembering back to a case at the beginning of his career and a man who has haunted him all these years. I am not far into the book but I can already tell that the story will be a compelling one. I hope so.