A TV series was made based on this book and it's available at YouTube. 4* Going . This review is from: Some Lie and Some Die (An Inspector Wexford Mystery) (Paperback) Wexford solves this case using his apparent psychic abilities.
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Dawn Stonor was a local club hostess whose life had never come together the way she'd wanted it to. She was almost ready to give up her ambitions for wealth and glamour--ambitions which had encouraged her, according to her roommate, to be a compulsive liar--when she suddenly and without real explanation left her flat on the night of her boyfriend's birthday and wound up dead.
There's a lot here to puzzle, but what Wexford can't get over is the strangeness of her appearance when she was found. Dawn was fashion-conscious and trendy and had apparently been seen mere hours before her death in a mauve, perfectly color-coordinated outfit oh, the s And why was she buying picnic food for two at the grocery store right before her death? Who was she planning to meet?
Following these questions leads Wexford and Burden through a tangle of past and present. It was just becoming, as Wexford points out, more culturally powerful to be young than to be old, and what we have in Some Lie and Some Die is a group of people trying frantically to hold onto, recapture, or revise their youth just as they're losing it.
The past is a ghost that elegantly and painfully haunts this particular mystery, which has a horrifying--if somewhat overwrought--solution. There's good characterization and character development in this installment, too. After a clumsy bit of recapping at the beginning to cover the time we've jumped--yes, Mike's wife is still dead, yes, his relationship with his now married sister-in-law has become pleasantly functional and friendly--Rendell turns her attention, though never obtrusively, to the ways youth and age interact with her protagonists.
Wexford, at sixty, is nostalgic about youth and conversant with it, but also entirely and fully his age, a man with considerable emotional maturity and appreciation for responsibility. When he sits some people down for a blistering Great Detective lecture at the end of the novel, it's a moral authority that he's completely earned. Meanwhile, the younger Burden is struggling to figure out how to correctly be a single dad: The novel shows him gradually, with Wexford's influence, learning to relax from that and trust that his kids will be okay.
It's a nicely-done little arc, and I'm also amused by it because I think this may be the only detective novel I've read where the hard-working cop needs to learn to spend less time with the children he loves. Jan 02, Laura rated it liked it Shelves: When the body of a brutally beaten girl is found in a quarry during a hedonistic hippy festival near Kingsmarkham, Wexford is first on the scene. The victim's face has been pulped by the back-end of a bottle, but who, in this atmosphere of peace and love, could be capable of such violence?
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A TV series was made based on this book and it's available at YouTube. As with all of Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford books that I've read so far, this is a beautifully written murder mystery with superb characterizations and rich humour. Because it's from the s, some of the humour is unintentional; hearing how we spoke and how we referred to certain things made me smile And if you're curious, the song from which the title comes--the lyrics for which are included with a helpful map at the beginning of my edition of this book--is a As with all of Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford books that I've read so far, this is a beautifully written murder mystery with superb characterizations and rich humour.
And if you're curious, the song from which the title comes--the lyrics for which are included with a helpful map at the beginning of my edition of this book--is available on YouTube, as a performance from the teleplay of the novel that features none other than the current Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi. Jul 12, Jaksen rated it really liked it. Wonderful, intricate, compelling mystery set in a time I distinctly remember! I was about the age of several of the main characters - both the victim and suspects - and yeah, it was like that, man.
All cops were pigs.
Some Lie and Some Die
I was sort of a square, considering the times. But short skirts, weird makeup and those page boy hats we all wore, yeah I was there As for the mystery, a young woman is found dead in a quarry at the scene of a 'rave-up' or what we Yanks would simply call a conc Wonderful, intricate, compelling mystery set in a time I distinctly remember! As for the mystery, a young woman is found dead in a quarry at the scene of a 'rave-up' or what we Yanks would simply call a concert, or if we were really high, a happening. It's up to Wexford, who seems to understand the young people, and Burden, who doesn't, to solve the crime.
There's not a lot of forensics here, but a lot of interviewing and psychological insights as Wexford learns who's telling the truth, and who isn't. There's a very good description of a rock star at his peak, which doesn't differ so much from similar celebrities of today. The narcissism, the seeming entitlement, the way this 'star' looks down condescendingly on others as he elevates to stardom. Anyhow, the setting is great - the English countryside. The depiction of characters, both young and old, free-thinking or stodgy, and the way the story unrolls is very well-done.
Currently one of my favorite Ruth Rendell-Inspector Wexford mysteries. Somewhere part of the way through your third Ruth Rendell you will become aware of just why she is regarded as being the very best there is at this detective fiction game. You won't have started number three without having enjoyed one and two. You will have enjoyed being drawn by the plot, being drawn to the main character and being impressed by the technical structure of the books. It is only during number three that you realise that the wonderful feeling that is growing inside you is caused by Somewhere part of the way through your third Ruth Rendell you will become aware of just why she is regarded as being the very best there is at this detective fiction game.
It is only during number three that you realise that the wonderful feeling that is growing inside you is caused by the music of the sentences, the touch of a poet, the no-nonsense sentiments of a realist and the heart seeking beauty of a perfectionist. You'll realise just how good this writer is, and marvel at the achievement of creating Reg Wexford. Some Lie and Some Die is an early novel. She got much better. Not many other detective writers got this good. Jan 18, Stacey rated it liked it. I think maybe I need to take a break from Ruth for a bit to better appreciate her strengths.
This particular novel has many of her hallmarks, but feels more dated given the setting--a seventies-era rock concert. The novel takes me back to old episodes of Ironsides and Hawaii with the psychedelic camera work and the du. As usual, Rendell uses an outside work to provide additional context to the mystery.
This I think maybe I need to take a break from Ruth for a bit to better appreciate her strengths. This time it's the lyrics to a rock song created for the purpose. That thing got worked to death in the course of the story. As usual, the story focuses on an unstable female character, who in this novel has a Jim Morrison knock-off as her Svengali-like foil. May 25, Diana Sandberg rated it did not like it. Rendell surprises again, but not in a good way. This one is neither terrifying nor well written. The plot is absurd, the setting contrived and foolish, the characters unconvincing.
Apparently the 70s were not a good time in her career. Had I read this first of hers, I should never have bothered with another. May 27, Anne Forrest rated it liked it. Listened to this old style mystery. Each trip to or from work revealed a little more of the intricate plot. This story is not long at all as was thr other book in this series. The premise rock concert would have been a mystery I would have ordinarily avoided but since it was an Inspector Wexford I gave it a try on CD.
Anthony's performance brought this story and the characters to life. I must say that I enjoyed this book a bit more than the other Inspector Wexford book. It was so totally different and at the same time so captivating. Whether you chose to listen to this book on CD or read it in book form you won't be disappointed.
Apr 19, Shabra Bendrix rated it liked it. Wexford solves this case using his apparent psychic abilities. It feels as if Rendell was racing to hit her deadline and ran out of time to a craft a believable conclusion. And the idea that a savvy police commander would interrupt a concert attended by 70, tripping hippies to announce a murder — and not have chaos ensue — is equally unbelievable. Mar 25, Dennis Fischman rated it liked it Shelves: I don't entirely recognize Inspector Wexford in this book. His stay in London seems to have made him more liberal and more literary than he was before: People who know the era say that Rendell's portrait of a 's folk-rock singer and his groupies is spot on.
I didn't buy the psychology behind the murder. It's a good thing Rendell deepened the character and made I don't entirely recognize Inspector Wexford in this book. It's a good thing Rendell deepened the character and made more of his wife and daughters as the series went on. Jun 19, Jo rated it really liked it. I love a good murder mystery and there are few better exponents of them than RR. They make a good pair, these two, with one counterbalancing the other, sometimes with good-natured jabs and at other times, testy assertions; theirs is a comfortable friendship with enough longevity and professionalism to prevent their disagreements from devolving into downright hostility.
The festival's headliner is local boy turned music god, Zeno Vedast, formerly known as Harold Goodbody, who's also looking for a house in the area. Aiding his efforts and tending to his every need are the mysterious and beautiful Nell, and her alcoholic husband, Godfrey Tate. Once the festival gets underway, however, things turn sour when the body of a blonde is found in a quarry separating Martin Silk's property and the site of the music festival from a group of modern houses. With murder most foul being obvious, Wexford, Burden and their team are rapidly summoned to investigate a crime that is very wicked, indeed.
At pages, this book is a very quick read. Normally, I wouldn't expect such a short novel to offer much in the way of character development and plot detail, but Rendell does a fine job fleshing out her mangy, colorful lot, with equal care given to both victim, suspects and even some festival-goers.
She also includes a bit of recently widowed Burden's family life as he struggles to be both mother and father to his two teenage children. Of course, this necessarily precludes Rendell's normal ventures into Wexford's domestic situation but there are satisfactory allusions to it. Besides, Burden's concern for his children and vice versa seems authentic and natural, and their scenes together are both funny and moving. As far as mystery novelists go, Rendell has few equals in probing the psyches and inner workings of her characters.
Her consistently delving into their psychological makeup adds an extra layer of informed literacy that keeps me coming back to her work. In "Some Lie and Some Die", the crime is less about the killer's identity--not too difficult to spot if you pay attention--than the motive, which is what kept me guessing until the very end. Rendell plays fair with the reader although I must confess that I found the explanation offered to be somewhat improbable.
Not my favorite Wexford mystery but a good one, nonetheless.
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Ruth Rendell was a truly wonderful writer and I am reading the Inspector Wexford again. Starting from the first to the last. I enjoy reading these books and also enjoy reading used books. I have the feeling that people before me have enjoyed their reading experience. I will be able to let others enjoy these wonderful books after me, in a chain of readership. Inspector Wexford is still Inspector Wexford.
His Sergeant at Arms Burden, like his name, carries a burden of a motherless family he has to try and keep together. Good story, the line loosely based on 's outdoors rock concerts and the personalities of the "stars" and their line of followers. Kind of nostalgic for me. I like Rendell's characters and her style. There was something not quite up to par in this book, I thought, but as usual, the book kept me reading until the end. I am not crazy about Wexford getting old. A typical Ruth Rendell murder mystery.
I do love the Inspector Wexford books.
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