The Best Man to Die. Ruth Rendell. Arrow Books (1969)

A low key crime story with a solid plot, sharply defined cast and a pleasantly nasty undertow. Charlie Hatton is murdered the night before he is due to be the best man at his friend Jack Pertwee's wedding. Charlie Hatton appeared to be always suspiciously free-spending for a truck driver, the investigation into his murder, led by Detective Chief Inspector Wexford, starts with a look at his suspect activities and associates. At the same time the survivor of a fatal car crash regains consciousness. It quickly becomes apparent that the crash is significantly more complicated than had been assumed. Gradually the two incidents intersect and the come together is a credible and satisfying fashion. The story twists nicely, the reveals are well paced and the conclusion is bitterly truthful.
There is a minimum of action in this book, the narrative is propelled by the biting interactions by the cast. There is a powerful thread of restrained anger and resentment pulsing underneath the narrative, the cast are largely in the grip of powerful emotions just held in check. In a sense the book is a period piece, the social context that the cast operate within seems as distant as the moon, Ruth Rendell uses it very purposefully in the book and that ensues that it does not date. The very explicit class structure that the cast are all vividly aware of is an important element in the story.
None of the cast are particularly sympathetic, Ruth Rendell endows all of them with an awkward and vivid life that engages the reader and draws them into the story and the lives of the cast. This gives the book a quietly compelling quality and makes it a very worthwhile read.

The Babes in the Wood. Ruth Rendell. Hutchinson (2002)

A sharp, very bleak and very well constructed murder mystery. Two teenage children and their minder are missing, the parents returned to an empty house and the children's mother is convinced that they have been drowned in the floods that are afflicting the area. All three are strong swimmers and the house is above the floods. The children and their minder remain missing and a search for their bodies in the flood waters is undertaken and does not locate them. The investigation reveals much more than the fate of the children and their minder, it explores, without mercy, the terrible things people do in the name of love. The reveals are well paced, the numerous cast are horribly plausible and the conclusion is suitably savage.

This story has a cold tone to it, none of the cast are particularly sympathetic, Chief Inspector Wexford is competent, effective policeman and a less than competent father. The parents of the missing children are just on the interesting side of appalling and repulsive, the rest of the cast tend to be either self-obsessed, weak or both. It is a considerable tribute to Ruth Rendell's skill as a writer that the book is not unreadable, the cast are vigorous and the story constructed with such skill that the reader is pulled along to see how it will be resolved.

One of the extraordinary aspects to the book is the complete absence of humour, the tone throughout is considered and grave, well matched to the actions,emotions and motives involved in the story. This does not make the story glum or heavy going, humour is simply not required due to the quality of the writing, the necessary shades and contrasts are fully developed in the story. This is steely, first rate writing about crime and humans, grim and fascinating.