A Guilty Thing Surprised: Inspector Wexford Book 5

Beautiful and gracious Elizabeth Nightingale reigns like a beloved chatelaine in her country manor home with her rich and handsome husband, Quentin. The only fly in her ointment appears to be her brother, Denys Villiers. Though he is great friends with Quentin, the consensus appears to be that there is no love lost between brother and sister. Still life goes on. Til one day, it simply doesn’t. Elizabeth goes for a nocturnal stroll, one from which she is never to return. It turns out that in the forest surrounding the manor, she would have a run in with death.When Chief Inspector Wexford is called in on the case, along with his partner in crime, Inspector Burden, he finds a household that is quite upset. Yet, not all is it seems. Perhaps the Quentin marriage was not quite as idyllic as was purported. As he and Burden peal back the labyrinthine layers, it would appear that one person has grossly underestimated Chief Inspector Wexford.I really enjoy these Chief Inspector Wexford mysteries. This one was no exception. I respect his surprising erudition, when one least expects it. I appreciate the insights provided by Inspector Burden. It is when Chief inspector Wexford arrives at his Eureka moment, however, when all of the collective pieces of the puzzle finally fall into place, that I know the moment of truth has arrived. I loved this book and really look forward to reading the next one in the series.

All the literary allusions contribute to the plot. The conflicts and attractions that lead to death are well played. I have read several of th I s series in print and kindle. These kindle editions have numerous errors that should have been caught by a good proofreading.

This is my first book from this writer and overall I really liked it. Nicely built mystery with all the proper clues and red herrings, such a typically British Inspector. I am sure when I will read more stories with him, his character will built up more in my head, but even after one book I liked him.Some reviews built the ending as shocking, I have to say maybe I have read too much about darker side of human nature, but I did not find it particularly shocking. Unexpected, yes, properly foreshadowed, but unexpected, not shocking. On the other side, apparently it was published for the first time in 1970 (this is book number five in the series and she is up to book 23 if I am not mistaken?) so maybe it was shocking for 1970.

I had stopped reading Ruth Rendell a few years ago because I needed a break from some of her darker mysteries. I needed a new detective series and picked this one to see if I like detective Wexford. Wexford and the Guilty Surprise are both satisfying. Wexford is an old fashioned detective, smart and questioning himself while realizing he's still got his intuition and know-how. The mystery to be solved is complicated enough and just like Rendell to build in her understanding of human nature and motivation. She takes you along as Wexford unwraps the possibilities of the who-done-it.

This is a good book and a quick read. But I really hate paying money for a book only to find that it has not been proofed. This book is full of misspelled words and words which make no sense. It took a while, for example, to figure out that "men" was supposed to be "then". The Elizabeth George book on the contrary had zero errors. Is it the job of the writer or the editor to read the book before it is published?

The remarkable aspect of this novel is not the plot, nor the familiarity of having detectives of previous mysteries present, nor even admiration for how well written the book is, but rather, given the unlikeable persons and events in the book, how very sad the unavoidable conclusion was.

This is yet another very entertaining mystery from Ruth Rendell. The book itself is great. However, the transfer to Kindle version is not well done: I noted 17 errors of various sorts that I am reasonably sure where not in the printed editions. I sent a list of the errors to Random House, and perhaps they will make the corrections. The errors are pretty distracting.

Good average read, with lots of possible suspects. But what spoiled it for me was the number of spelling mistakes and completely wrong words. I have to assume that the book was published without these, so whomever is putting together the Kindle version needs to take a lot more care. There is even a section totally misplaced.

The early Wexford novels are always fun because they give such an excellent snapshot of the time when they were written. English village life in the late sixties is nicely documented here from the upper middle class gentry (still desperately clinging on to servants) to the boys' schools still teaching Latin and Greek to the forelock tugging working classes. Elizabeth Nightingale is beaten to death on a windy summers night near her posh home. Was it her ineffectual husband? Her extravagantly strange brother? Her awkward sister-in-law? Or even the lovelorn local boy with daydream ambitions? 'Guilty Thing' is a good, average and fairly typical murder mystery in the Agatha Christie vein. Its perfectly decent but not terribly exciting. The characters are all fairly stock subjects and there are some astonishing stereotypes, perhaps especially the Dutch au-pair. Personally, despite being a short novel, I also think it goes on a bit too long. The whole blackmail subplot is really unnecessary and I suspect most readers stand a good chance at guessing the identity of the murderer long before that kicks in. Its also unusual for Rendell to introduce a character such as Lionel Marriott whose sole purpose is to provide lengthy screeds of back story because she could, presumably, not think of another way to give us that information. This is one of the Wexfords that deals with a potentially shocking subject but, in the event, it isn't very shocking at all. All Rendell novels are enjoyable but, for me, this is not one of her best.

I returned to crime fiction in the 1980s, in my 30s, after a long period away. I had read Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes when I was much younger but it was PD James and Ruth Rendell who rekindled my interest in this genre. In this book beautiful Elizabeth Nightingale, a popular, wealthy woman is found murdered near her home. In solving the crime Wexford, Burden and the readers meet interesting, different but well-drawn characters in beautifully described settings, high and low. As in her first novel the author gives clues in a literary fashion, which I never pick up because of my lack of knowledge of English literature, I'm ashamed to say. The stars of this novel are the wonderful old gossip, Lionel, and William Wordsworth. I am beginning to think that Burden is there for comic relief - not my favourite.

Well written and page turning. A bit over adjectival particularly in the early pages, the main problem was how obvious the solution was, if any doubt had remained it was removed by the references, mainly to Wordsworth but also to Byron. If the reader is intended to enjoy the quotations they will also know of the closeness of Wordsworth to his sister and,of course, to Byron’s supposed relationship with his half sister.

Thoroughly enjoyable book right up to the end

Story just tapered out towards end like she lost interest or couldn't ge bothered finishing it.