Guilty Thing Surprised [Import] [Paperback]

Ruth Rendell (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Chivers P; Large Print e. edition (July 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745131891
• ISBN-13: 978-0745131894
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent murder mystery, November 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Guilty Thing Surprised (Chief Inspector Wexford Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Terrific vintage Rendell, one of the best Chief Inspector Wexford mysteries. The wealthy and beautiful Elizabeth Nightingale is murdered one night in the woods, and it is up to the intelligent, cantankerous Wexford and his sidekick Burden to solve the crime. This appears at first to be a fairly ordinary mystery; the leisurely pace and sharp humor may fool the reader into thinking that this is a peaceful, quiet novel. The final revelation, however, is disturbing and shocking, one of the author's most gripping and powerful conclusions. Otherwise, a fairly light, literate, entertaining mystery, written in Rendell's irresistably readable prose style, filled with ingenious plot twists and numerous red herrings. A bravura performance; even this comparatively minor work shows that Rendell can easily outwrite the vast majority of her contemporaries.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good with a super ending, February 18, 2006

By 

Veronica (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Guilty Thing Surprised (Chief Inspector Wexford Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I don't think this is one of Rendell's best Wexford novels but it does have a good plot, a diverse cast of characters and some thought-provoking material. If you enjoy Wexford novels then you'll be missing out if you don't read this one eventually, but it isn't one of my favourites. The best part of the book was the ending, which I found to be very surprising and shocking.

This time Wexford is investigating the murder of Elizabeth Nightingale, living a dull, well-off life in the country with her husband Quentin. Their marriage is completely passionless and sexless, but someone reacts violently enough to Elizabeth to murder her on one of her evening walks in the forest. Then along come Detectives Wexford and Burden to crack the case and drag up the psychology behind the characters.

Perhaps one of the reasons why I'm not raving about this novel is because the type of characters shown in it are my least favourite - a wealthy upper class couple, their servants and wealthy, upper class friends. I much prefer a detective novel that focuses on normal people rather than the Master and Mistress of the house and their stereotypical rough and uneducated working class servants. This certainly isn't a side of England that I recognise anymore and Rendell's newer Wexford novels reflect this, tending to focus on all different kinds of people in the social scale without being stereotypical. One of my favourite characters was Sean Lovell, whose thwarted ambitions to become a singer were strangely touching, particularly when Wexford overhears him pretending to be a popstar in his shed (we've all done it, haven't we? :-) )

The novel also looks at what it means to be a woman in 1970s Britain. Unfortunately, the females in this novel are probably the weakest characters, such as a housewife who has given up her job to devote herself to her husband who doesn't really seem to like her anyway and a rather silly Swedish au pair. One of the themes of the book seems to be `what makes a good woman'. What strikes me is that in this book the men act pretty much as they like without anybody commenting on their behaviour, but every aspect of each woman is judged and examined. It made interesting, if frustrating, reading.

Overall, a good book with a brilliant ending. Due to the publication date of this novel (early 70s) it is rather old-fashioned, but the psychology is still relevant.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, but not Rendell's usual great work., October 8, 2002

By 

"lynkfri13" (Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Guilty Thing Surprised (Chief Inspector Wexford Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

. . . . . . . .. .. . .~ - * * * - ~
~ - ~ This was not one of Ruth Rendell's best. Her strength is usually in creating believable characters in almost un-imaginable situations.

~ - ~ In this story, the Lady of the Manor, Elizabeth Nightingale, is murdered in the forest right near her home. Most of the characters seem like stereotypes. There is the wealthy husband who doesn't really understand his wife. Upstairs lives the Au Pair - a young Dutch woman apparently only interested in her sex life. The housekeeper and gardener speak nothing but praise of their employer. The young under-gardener worships the "Lady of the House", and believes she's promised him help in his wish for a career as a DJ and a singer. Her brother is a neurotic scholarly writer who dislikes his sister. Her sister-in-law may benefit from the will.

~ - ~The book is entertaining, but not nearly as absorbing as Rendell's usual. You may be able to guess the killer and motive. The ending was a surprise to me, but not nearly as powerfully surprising as Ruth Rendell's usual twists and turns. Inspector Wexford hardly did any inspecting, mostly listening to a narrative from a friend of the family. Even just listening to the tale of the family's history seemed to take an inordinately long time- 3 or 4 days of conversations.

~ - ~ This book is entertaining, and easy to get interested in. However, for a sample of the best of Inspectors Wexford and Burden- I suggest two much more absorbing books: "Road Rage" and "No More Dying Then"