The Monster in the Box (2009) was going to be the last of Rendell’s stories featuring Inspector Reg Wexford. You can read my review of it here. But Ruth Rendall fans, like me, can be grateful that she has relented, and given him at least one more run in The Vault (2011). True he is no longer Inspector Wexford, having now retired. But he is still functioning as a detective, using his characteristic doggedness to think his way through a crime.
Aficionados of Rendell’s work will recognise the setting of the story – the Orcadia Cottage of A Sight for Sore Eyes (1998). This is not a Wexford novel, but one of her psychological thrillers. Having read it –or not – doesn’t spoil the plot of The Vault, but it does tell you what became of some of the characters. This is a bit cheeky, but at eighty-two, Rendell can be forgiven it. She’s also found a fairly obvious device for involving Wexford in detection. Where some writers put their retired detectives onto cold cases, a chance meeting with Tom Ede, a detective once much junior to him but now himself a Detective Superintendent, finds Wexford employed as an unpaid assistant in a case which is currently baffling Ede. Four bodies, money and jewellery have been found in the bricked up cellar of Orcadia Cottage. Three of them have been there for a long time, but one is much more recent. Who knew there even was a cellar?
Because he is no longer a policeman – something he has to keep reminding himself of – Wexford needs to think differently about his role. ‘He must become a private detective without any sort of licence to practise, not even the fame which attached to a Hercule Poirot or Peter Wimsey …’ And this can be frustrating. ‘He thought of what a lot he didn’t really know and that finding out might be closed off from him’. But his ability to see connections is no less than before. ‘You say I’m acting on my imagination and you may be right,’ he says to Ede, ‘but I see it as acting from my knowledge of human nature.’ No longer being a policeman also has its compensations. ‘In his previous life, his previous existence, he had seldom allowed himself likings and dislikings. Now he could. It was an advantage.’ And so it proves.
Rendell’s writing about Wexford and his world is always fresh and interesting. This time she has some fun with clichés, to which Ede is addicted, and into which Wexford finds himself falling. ‘Strike while the iron is hot’, ‘tighten our belts’, or ‘you’ve got enough on your plate’ are Ede’s standard fare, but eventually Wexford begins to find his use of ‘the hackneyed phrase endearing’, and to fall into cliché himself. Rendell draws her characters with small deft touches, as for example with Tom
Ede’s avoidance of swearing, which in a roundabout way has a role in the story.
The plot is serviceable rather than brilliant, with a somewhat greater degree of coincidence than is present in the best of Rendell’s stories. This is the first book I’ve read and reviewed on my new Kindle, and I found it a little difficult to go back and check just who was who – and I needed to, as there are a lot of interviews with characters who are not all that dissimilar. She has also adopted a curious device which I haven’t noticed in any other of her books whereby she forecasts outcomes, as in ‘he was destined to be enormously glad he insisted’, ‘a reaction he was later to regret’ or ‘later to learn … but thank God he hadn’t …’. I don’t think this adds anything.
Wexford is now living part of the time in London, and part in Kingsmarkham, and it is this side of his life that provides the material for a sub-plot, which concerns his daughter Sylvia. This sub-plot is not connected to the main narrative, though there are perhaps echoes of one in the other. If I were coming new to Wexford, I might find the sub-plot a distraction, but readers who have known him for years and shared in his family life will probably merely find it interesting. And I’d rather have these plot elements separate than see a forced union just for the sake of it. However I did wonder if it was just a device to make sure Mike Burdon is still in the story.
Fans like me will enjoy The Vault, but if you are coming new to the Wexford series, I’d start with some of the books of the mid nineties to early two thousands, such as Road Rage (1997), Harm Done (1999) or Babes in the Wood (2002), where we see a great crime writer at the height of her powers.
You can read more about Ruth Rendell and her books here. Baroness Rendell doesn’t seem to have a web site, but there are quite a lot of reviews and commentary on-line.
What Book to Read? 
[…] out of the detecting business. They include The Monster in the Box (2009) here, The Vault (2011) here and sadly the last one, No Man’s Nightingale (2013) […]
[…] from the Kingsmarkam police force. You can read my review of the first, The Vault (2011), here. I thought that was perhaps not her best effort, but this one is vintage […]
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Dr. pompa, i hope you will reply to my question. What I have been doing for 3 weeks is i jog in place in my room for 20 mtiunes, sometimes twice a day. What i do is, i jog slowly for the first 5 mtiunes, Jog strenuously for the second 5 mtiunes, rest for 1 minute, and slow jog again for the 11th to the 16th minute, and fast jog again from 16th to 21th minute. Is this a good work out? im 190 LBS and 5’4 btw. Overweight. I hope you can help me. Thank you very much
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First of all – I love Bill Bryson. I need to read that book. Second, it counts as a clsiascs if YOU consider it a classic, based on your personal definition of what makes a classic. If you feel like your choice may be \”challenge-able\”, feel free to defend your selection within your post. 🙂
the real work begins. Top 5 changes that have to be made in 2013 after we win it all:1) Eliminating the filibuster. There will be no "obstructionist" Democrats. They will learn the meaning of "elections have consequences".2) Eliminating multiple cabinet departments (education, energy, commerce, labor and others) and return the money used to fund them to the taxpayers. Yes, this means firing a million government workers or so. They'll find jobs because they have to.3) Eliminating foreign aid, Planned Parenthood, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, food stamps, cash assistance and other subsidies we can no longer afford. Stand on your own or be cast aside.4) Turn over entitlements to the states where they will have to be run as a balanced budget expense. Liberals? Your retirement is not my problem.5) Appoint real conservatives — STRICT CONSTITUTIONALISTS ONLY — on the Supreme Court and to the federal bench. Time to overturn the last 80 years of liberalism that has made us obese, stupid, and dependent. Function on your own merit. Be responsible for yourself and your family. Nobody else will, nobody else should have to.This can and will happen, folks. The Democrat party is coming apart. Once Europe implodes and our economy finally goes with it, Obamaa won't be able to carry Illinois, much less the country. The blame game has already begun because they know it's over for them.For the rest of us, time to pick a side. Most of us are there. The rest? They'll come around. Won't have much of a choice, after all. I guarantee that.
Breakfast with Santa! Saturday, December 1st from 9-11AMOssian United Methodist Church201 W. Mill Street in Ossian, In 46777Come have pancakes, dolucieis egg casseroles, smoky links, cereal, donuts, dutch crunch dessert, Coffee, milk and juice something for everyoneHave your children’s picture taken with Santa and then they can shop in the Elf Store for their family members. Elves will be available to help them shop so they can keep it a surprise! All gifts are $2 and gift wrapping is included. This is a fun, holiday event sponsored by the Norwell High School Show ChoirSee you there!
Hi Tracy,I think inviting folks to tweet phrases, images, or comments as they go through the session could add an interesting dimension to the workshop. It’s pretty common for events now to project tweets (say, with a specific hashtag identifying the workshop) onto a wall before or throughout the event. Something like that might be a way that people could see what other tables are doing as they go through the workshop, or could be used as part of the wrap-up conversation. I don’t think it would add pressure to the workshop, because it’s there as an option — “hey, if you want you can tweet us some phrases for the board as you come up with them” but not something everyone has to participate in. Does that make sense? Thanks for the comment, I am glad I made you think about these issues.
But this is no nanny state guys. We do not need the government to take care of us. Didn’t you know that all you need to do is work hard and everything will come to you. Just ask any one of the conservative classes and they will tell you all of this. Afterall, they are so right and we liberals are so wrong. /end sarcasmEveryone will piss and whine about the cost of a universal health coverage plan. Pay for it by taxing luxury items. Pay for it by taxing cigareets even higer. Pay for it by taxig alcohol. Pay for it by taxing those pruchasing SUV’s. Pay for it by taxing those who want to own vicious dog breeds. Pay for it by taxing those who are in jobs where they pay $0 for their health care (i.e. politicians). And run it using a private firm instead of allowing the government to operate it. Have One oversight comittee but let a private firm hanlde the day to day. That way in order to get an appointment to a specialist approved, it won’t take months.It really is not that difficult to solve this problem so everyone can have good health insurance which answers the “why” question – Why? Because it means the current health insurance industry would lose money. We certainly cannot have that now can we?
I totally agree with you Nuala, I absolutely do not think that Art should be lumped with Sports and Tourism. We seemed to have had some issues, definitely in the last 8 years since I have lived here in Ireland, especially the brouhaha over the failed 2002-2006 plan. Such a shame that when the going gets tough funding in the arts is always the first to go. Art is a cultural necessity!On a tangental note – I taught a lecture in Feb for an Irish Studies class looking at Paul Henry’s work and how his painting helped to support tourism through specific views of the West of Ireland. Interesting to see that the class was familiar with the images but not the artist himself.
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Great to hear how you are getting on. What collgee are you traveling to? Could you let me know where the two fast charge points are in Wexford. Thanks. I know of one Nisssan in Ardcavan but not the second one.Redmond Square Car Park has a charging point. Do you know if you have to pay for a parking ticket while parked during charging.Good news to know down in the sunny south east area Waterford city car parks where there are charging points one does not have to pay for parking and the traffic wardens have been told re this policy. Alas, in Limerick city and Clonmel one has to pay while parked in a charging bay.
Bracilinle for free; your parents must be a sweetheart and a certified genius.
I’m not easily impressed. . . but that’s impressing me! 🙂
You have the monopoly on useful information-aren’t monopolies illegal? 😉