Sins of the Fathers : An Inspector Wexford Mystery

Rating:
Summary: Did He or Didn't He?
Review: A young girl who wants to marry a Reverend's son insists that her father wasn't a murderer. But Wexford is sure that the right man had hanged for the crime, and he should know because it had been his first murder case...

Ruth Rendell is generally a fairly reliably entertaining writer and my low rating is really an exception. The trouble for me was that the ending was extremely obvious from a very early point-- unfortunately I read the rest of the book with a growing sense of disappointment that the answer to the mystery took the easy way out. Skip this one.

Rating:
Summary: Rendell's "Sins" finds you out!
Review: It happened over sixteen years ago--but now, like the troll under the bridge, it raises its ugly head! This was no ordinary crime--it was an axe murder, the death of an old woman. Justice was summarily served, with Harry Painter hanging for the crime. In Ruth Rendell's "Sins of the Fathers," we find Chief Inspector Wexford and assistant Mike Burden painstakingly--and painfully--reinvestigating. It's unusual, of course, in that the Reverend Archery has raised doubts about the crime--fittingly so, as his son plans to marry the daughter of Harry Painter (and, of course, "daughter of a murderer" doesn't look so good on the bridal registry at Marks and Spencers!). Rendell's very successful Wexforfd series continues with this episode, which carries its own weight. Rendell's pacing, her attention to detail, her "execution" of the police procedural is right on target here, complete with deeply held--and dangerously held--secrets and brilliant crime solving by

Wexford and Burden. ([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: Rendell's "Sins" finds you out!
Review: It happened over sixteen years ago--but now, like the troll under the bridge, it raises its ugly head! This was no ordinary crime--it was an axe murder, the death of an old woman. Justice was summarily served, with Harry Painter hanging for the crime. In Ruth Rendell's "Sins of the Fathers," we find Chief Inspector Wexford and assistant Mike Burden painstakingly--and painfully--reinvestigating. It's unusual, of course, in that the Reverend Archery has raised doubts about the crime--fittingly so, as his son plans to marry the daughter of Harry Painter (and, of course, "daughter of a murderer" doesn't look so good on the bridal registry at Marks and Spencers!). Rendell's very successful Wexforfd series continues with this episode, which carries its own weight. Rendell's pacing, her attention to detail, her "execution" of the police procedural is right on target here, complete with deeply held--and dangerously held--secrets and brilliant crime solving by

Wexford and Burden. ([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: As Usual, a Rendell Ending with a Twist
Review: This is a much older Rendell, an Inspector Wexford from 1967. It probably seems a bit dated and therefore poorly reviewed. I see another example of Rendell's beautifully written and convoluted plots. The book that you think you are reading as you go along turns abruptly in the midst of the story, several times.

Having developed a relationship with Wexford, his family, and side-kick Michael Burden, I enjoyed the return to their antecedents. And in its totality, I enjoyed the book very much.

Rating:
Summary: As Usual, a Rendell Ending with a Twist
Review: This is a much older Rendell, an Inspector Wexford from 1967. It probably seems a bit dated and therefore poorly reviewed. I see another example of Rendell's beautifully written and convoluted plots. The book that you think you are reading as you go along turns abruptly in the midst of the story, several times.

Having developed a relationship with Wexford, his family, and side-kick Michael Burden, I enjoyed the return to their antecedents. And in its totality, I enjoyed the book very much.