A Sleeping Life (Inspector Wexford) [Hardcover]

Ruth Rendell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 1978 | Series: Inspector Wexford

When a body of a middle-aged woman is found under a hedge, Inspector Wexford finds he has very little information to pursue the case.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Rendell has quite simply transformed the genre of crime writing. She displays her peerless skill in blending the mundane, commonplace aspects of life with the potent murky impulses of desire and greed, obsession and fear Sunday Times The most brilliant mystery novelist of our time Patricia Cornwell Probably the greatest living crime writer in the world Ian Rankin Through the quality of her writing she's raised the game of the crime novel in this country Peter James One of the best novelists writing today P.D. James Rendell's mesmerising capacity to shock, chill and disturb is unmatched The Times [Wexford] has become an old friend who gets better with age Herald --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Rhoda Comfrey's death seemed unremarkable; the real mystery was her life.

In A Sleeping Life, master mystery writer Ruth Rendell unveils an elaborate web of lies and deception painstakingly maintained by a troubled soul. A wallet found in Comfrey's handbag leads Inspector Wexford to Mr. Grenville West, a writer whose plots revel in the blood, thunder, and passion of dramas of old; whose current whereabouts are unclear; and whose curious secretary--the plain Polly Flinders--provides the Inspector with more questions than answers. And when a second Grenville West comes to light, Wexford faces a dizzying array of possible scenarios--and suspects--behind the Comfrey murder.

Brilliantly entertaining, exceptionally crafted, A Sleeping Life evokes the dark realities, half-truths, and flights of fancy that constitute a life. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 172 pages
• Publisher: Hutchinson (May 8, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0091325404
• ISBN-13: 978-0091325404
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,134,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The plot's the thing, August 7, 2000

By 

RolloTomasi (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Sleeping Life (Paperback)

When plain, unattractive Rhoda Comfrey is found stabbed to death in a field outside Kingsmarkham, it's business as usual for Chief Inspector Wexford and his hilariously prudish sidekick, Burden. This convoluted case is even more frustrating than usual, however; virtually no one, aside from an indifferent relative, seems to remember the victim, and Wexford finds himself going around in circles in his desperate search for even the slightest of leads. His only clue is a man named Grenville West, who proves as elusive and enigmatic as Rhoda Comfrey herself.

The most intriguing mystery here, aside from whodunit, is the truth about Rhoda Comfrey's double life. Wexford arrives at his solution through the same combination of wit, intuition, and instinct (as opposed to straightforward, by-the-book detection) he displays in all his cases. True to form, Ruth Rendell delivers a positively stunning twist at the end, and of course, it caught me totally off guard. Unfortunately, the surprise revelation has practically zero emotional resonance. It's easy to admire Rendell's typically first-rate plotting, but her manipulations here lack the psychological dimension of her best work. And say what you will, but I didn't buy the killer's motive for a minute. A corpse should have a reason for being a corpse; even Agatha Christie understood that.

I almost always love Rendell's spare, understated prose, but for some reason, this book is neither as sharply written nor as witty as it should be. There's surprisingly little of the narrative tension and momentum so evident in SHAKE HANDS FOREVER (still, for my money, the best Inspector Wexford mystery). Instead, A SLEEPING LIFE has the same slack pace and implausible character motivation so evident in SOME LIE AND SOME DIE (still, for my money, the worst Inspector Wexford mystery).

Not a bad book--Rendell is practically incapable of that--but far from being the great one it should have been.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well Organized, Intriguing, and Stylishly Written, November 16, 2004

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Sleeping Life (Paperback)

Many critics praise Ruth Rendall for her psychological insight into the characters she presents. I have never understood this; from my own point of view, her psychological insight usually consists of inconsistencies and uncertain motivations--the latter of which most often arise from a vaguely drawn plot that seldom has any "mystery" to it at all.

Clearly, I am not among Rendell's fans. Still, if I were hard pressed to recommend a Rendell novel, I would most likely recommend A SLEEPING LIFE--for although very typical of her work in terms of character, it is indeed a reasonably well structured mystery with a double-folded solution that few will completely anticipate.

The story concerns Rhoda Comfrey, an unattractive woman of fifty years whose body is found twice-stabbed along a path. But when Inspector Wexford attempts to trace Comfrey's movements, he is unexpectedly stymied: although her bed-ridden father resides in the area, she herself does not--and although it is generally understood that she lives in London, no one has any idea where, nor does an appeal through the press bring forth her address, her occupation, or even any one in all of England who has seen her, much less actually knows her.

As the days pass in mounting frustration, Inspector Wexford gradually finds himself also drawn into the somewhat suspicious absence of noted novelist Grenville West, who may or may not know Comfrey and who may or may not have suddenly disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Is there any connection--or is it just another wild goose chase so typical of this particular case?

In spite of my general dislike of Rendell's work, I found myself quite caught up in this particular title, which shows Rendell at her stylistic best and working with intriguing characters and a well-organized story. If you must read a Ruth Rendell novel, this would be a good choice.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, probably the best Wexford mystery, July 12, 2000

By 

Michael Wendt (Vernon Hills, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Sleeping Life (Paperback)

Rendell is a difficult writer to pin down; while, working as she does within the mystery/crime genre, her books inhabit different areas of that particular literary country. The Wexford series has always been best classified as police procedural, while the othe books are more psychological, plotted less closely along conventional crime novel lines. Within the Wexford series, Rendell has of late been injecting a lot of social commentary into her books and the plotting - Rendell fans must admit that her puzzles are easier to figure out than most - has fallen off. Her best crafted Wexford mysteries (as opposed to "novels" or "literature," which came a bit later) were from the 1970s (here, 1978). Rendell's best, most prominent characteristics are all here; the emphasis on psychological makeup and motive, the ability to draw characters and relationships with only a few lines of dialogue or interior monologue, the presence of details that few other writers put to such good use in delineating said characters, the use of dead ends, mistakes, and wrong assumptions and guesses by Wexford in the exposition. While Rendell is outstanding at what she does, not all crime fiction fans like her stuff. One would do worse than to begin here to find out where you stand. If you like this, moving on to other Wexford books, or the darker, non-series classics like "A Dark-Adapted Eye" is only a small step. If not, forget it.