The Vault by Ruth Rendell

I absolutely love Ruth Rendell. This is one book I was dying to read. I was lucky to find it my local library. Wexford is retired and enjoying(?) his leisure in London in a 'coachhouse' his famous actress daughter Sheila has given for his use. He spends time between his house in Kingsmarkham and London. He is taking long walks enjoying all that London has to offer and spending time with his grandchildren. But he is not fully happy, how can he be! He misses being a policeman and wants to investigate and when his old friend gives him a chance to work as an adviser, he leaps at it.

In a cellar, in a patio of Orcadia Cottage are found four dead bodies. Three buried at least 12 years before -a young man, an older man and an older woman -and another buried 2 years before- a young woman. Who are these people and how did they end up in 'the vault'?

At the domestic front, there is as usual some trouble with one of Wexford's daughters. This time it is Sylvia. And Sylvia is not a teen but a mother of a teen that doesn't mean her troubles are any smaller.

If you had read The Sight for the Sore Eyes, you already know who the first three in the Vault are. But Wexford doesn't. How does Wexford go about finding who these people are? The real mystery is about who the fourth body that of the young woman is, who was dumped there ten years after the initial crime. Who killed her and used the Vault as her grave?

I read The Sight for Sore Eyes some years ago and the only thing I remember about it is why the manhole in the patio was not closed. I don't remember who these people are. The mystery about the younger woman makes it reading worthwhile. Overall an interesting read.

This counts towards various challenges. For the Merely Mystery Reading Challenge I would rank this as a whodunit. For the European Reading Challenge the action takes place in London. This counts as the crime novel whose protagonist is the opposite gender of the author for the Criminal Plots II challenge.

Challenges: Mystery & Suspense Reading Challenge 2012, A-Z Challenge 2012, Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks, Merely Mystery Reading Challenge, British Book Challenge, Bucket List Book Reading Challenge, European Reading Challenge, AZRC, Eclectic Reader Challenge, Criminal Plots II Challenge

Mysterious affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

Revisiting Agatha Christie after almost a decade. I have read Mysterious affair at Styles before and for that matter have seen it on Tv too, so was not sure whether I would enjoy it as much as I had when I read it the first time. The whole point of a whodunit is the question who done it, isn't it? So if I remember who had done it even half way through I would not enjoy the book. But Agatha Christie did not disappoint me. I was all along rooting for somebody as the murderer and the end was really a surprise. There are a few red herrings, and some nice twists and turns.
This is the first Agatha Christie book published in 1920 and is narrated by Hastings. This book introduces Poirot and his methods. Poirot is not going to search for footprints in the scene of crime but use his little 'grey cells'. He is observant and sees things that Hastings would easily overlook. "If the fact will not fit the theory-let the theory go" he advises Hastings.
Now for the story. Hastings is invited to Styles by his friend John Cavendish. Mrs.Inglethrop, stepmother to the Cavendish Brothers John and Lawrence, holds the purse strings. She has married a young man much against the wishes of the family. Mrs.Inglethrop is murdered by Strychnine poisoning. The suspects include the Cavendish brothers, Mr.Inglethrop, Mary Cavendish, John's wife, Cynthia, Mrs.Inglethrop's ward, Evelyn Howard and Dr. Braustien. All the suspects have access to Strychnine and have motive. Now who did it and why?
Loved every bit of it. Agatha Christie is undoubtedly the Queen of Crime fiction.