Product Description
Sixteen-year-old Elvira's mother is dead.Elvira is sad, of course, but not so sad as her younger sister Spinny.Spinny is afraid their father, Luke, will be heartbroken, but Elvira knows better -- after all, Luke has her to take her mother's place.But then Luke brings home a pretty young woman and introduces her as his fiancee, and Elvira decides that she will stop at nothing to stop her father's marriage . . . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Short, creepy, packs a punch
If you're looking for a good, quick Gothic read, Ruth Rendell's "Heartstones" should fit the bill nicely. This is the first book by the author I have read, and I was immediately stuck by her wonderful use of language: direct, to the point, with a quick wit and a good mind for well-chosen detail. This story will keep throwing unexpected twists at the reader, just when you think you've figured out what's going to happen next.

It's not necessarily a story which will linger with you for a long time afterward, and it is not much more than a novelette, easy to finish in one afternoon's read. That said, if you are a fan of the author or like Gothic-style horror, you should give this one a look. You'll likely enjoy it a great deal.

A small, creepy book
I believe books like this are called "novelettes". It's a thin little tome of 94 pages and constructed like a modern tale from Edgar Allan Poe. In fact, many of the plot's elements echo some of his best, twisty pieces.

The narrator of the story is Elvira (perfect name), a disturbing, self-centered teenager who is more than a little obsessed with her father (Luke) and expects to take her recently departed mother's place in his life, but only intellectually. Elvira is a cold, emotional cripple who tolerates the other people who compete with her for Luke's attention, especially her little sister, Despina, also known as "Spinny".Motherless, and essentially fatherless, Spinny is a sad, quirky child who finds great comfort in food, unlike her sister, who has essentially no interest at all in food.

The worlds of both girls are rocked when Luke brings home Mary Leonard, who will be his new wife. Spinny is overjoyed and Elvira immediately starts to plot Mary's murder. And die she does, but from a fall from scaffolding, not from Elvira's poison. And Elvira is left to wonder if she somehow managed to kill Mary without remembering. Her thinking is increasingly addled.

From this point on, the book is a downward spiral into madness but not with the expected consequences. The roles that were established at the beginning of the book seem to shift and even at the end, you almost need to revisit the beginning in order to see the clues. As is her usual, Rendell has everything in plain sight - we're just looking the other way.

Brilliant!
Intriguing and FAB!with a twist at the end that you wouldn't expect (from one that usually works out "the go" in the first two chapters!Buy it, give yourself a great read, Lisa

The Best Ruth Rendell tale yet written
Ruth Rendell tries her hand a Gothic novella, and creates the most perfectly crafted, disturbing tale I have ever read. In almost every mystery one reads, there is something which detracts, some plot elementwhich didn't seem entirely feasible, some character which seemed paperthin; in short, there is always some contrivance related to the genre whichleaves the reader thinking that while he or she may have been entertained,it was a less than perfect book. Such is not the case with Heartstones. Irecommend it to anyone who enjoys good writing.

The very best of Ruth Rendell!
This is the one I recommend to readers who are new to Ruth Rendell.Though short in length, there is not one wasted or unnecessary word as she tells the story of a young girl struggling through a personal catharsis.As in most of Ms. Rendell's other psychological dramas and mysteries, she keeps the story's secret until the last paragraph. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (44)

Could have been shorter
This is a 400 page book that could have been 300.The reader has to wade through the descriptions to get to the plot.And that hopping back and forth from the past, when they were 19, to the present drives me nuts.

A true rarity...a dull Barbara Vine novel
Do not, and I repeat, do not judge Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell by this novel.Under both names, she has created truly superior mystery and suspense fiction.She writes an average of two books a year and hardly ever misfires. Unfortunately, this one is a misfire.The characters are not interesting and at times are even annoying. The story proceeds slowly with a lot of foreshadowing that fails to be fulfilled. I repeat, this author is one of the absolute best. This book just plain is not representative.

Absorbing but not compelling
Of the dozen or so Barbara Vine novels, for me this falls right in the lower middle tier.Hardly the best, but certainly not the weakest (I would reserve "The Minotaur" for that, but even then it was more readable and witty than most of her competition) in the canon.
The story, although absorbing, takes a while to get going, thanks due to the sometimes overly done descriptions of London and its architecture.But once it gets cranking and the folks are jumping from roof to roof, things gets interesting, particularly with the motley group of characters assembled for such a dangerous activity.They may not be a sympathetic one in the bunch, but some of their stories are darkly funny, and never less than absorbing.
However somewhere past the middle a couple of members does something that takes the story to a different direction, closer to themes found in other Vine books.This sudden turn--from almost no plot for the first two thirds to action driven final third--may not convince everyone.
True she could have discarded this last third and gone in another direction, but the final product is just as absorbing as anything she has written.Just not as fully convincing or as seamless as her best work.
Although I certainly enjoyed the book (I read it two days), I would not recommended it for first time Barbara Vine readers.The best titles are:"A Dark Adapted Eye", "A Fatal Inversion", "The House of Stairs", and "Anna's Book".

Grasshopper
Grasshopper

I am a dedicated Rendell fan but also enjoy all genres of writing. This is atypical for Rendell but I found it more literary and for me just as enjoyable. Unlike the murder mysteries, this is a tale of recovery and coming of age after the accidental death of a friend. I rank the writing of this book superior to Rendell's other works but may be less enjoyed if one is expecting a murder mystery. I was left feeling highly satisfied after reading it, as after a gourmet meal. Viva la Rendell!

The Road to Hell
If you have never read a Ruth Rendell or Barbara Vine novel, stop! Put Grasshopper down and move slowly away. Read Thirteen Steps Down or The Water's Lovely or The Rottweiler first. After you've become a committed fan, you may return to Grasshopper.

I read Grasshopper when it first came out a few years ago, but it was so-o-o slow and uneventful that I skipped along and didn't appreciate the story as it played out. I decided to give it another try recently and was finding that I had the same opinion of it. Slow. No murders. A generally gloomy ambience, but not much tension.

But as I made my way to the end, I started to see what was going on. The horror here isn't evil. It's disastrous consequences committed by people with the best intentions. Graham Greene's The Quiet American explored the same theme and so did Shakespeare, probably. Still, it's a theme that has rather a lot of relevance these days, and it's particularly horrifying the way it sneaks up on you, in Grasshopper and in real life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Used but look brand new
You would never know these were used. They were delivered fast and in pristine condition. I ordered them for my wife and she was very pleased. ... Read more

Product Description
Three classic Ruth Rendell stories: Means of Evil, The Fallen Curtain and The Fever Tree.Ruth Rendell is unequalled in her ability to weave stories that challenge our preconceptions and prejudices. From Wexford and Burden's investigation of a wife's apparent suicide, with all the evidence pointing to the husband in Means of Evil to the unsettling psychology behind a man's friendship with a boy in The Fallen Curtain and the paranoia that plagues two people out of love, terrified of being rejected in The Fever Tree. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

wonderful way to get started on Rendell
Fabulous collection of the little gems that make up the larger jewels that are Ruth Rendell. I don't know why her books are not more well know in the US, she is so far superior to Grishom and his like. Her character protrayals are insightful, deep and rich portraits of people like us, the readers, caught up in a world they can barely understand at times and surrounded by people they know even less, including themselves.But Ruth Rendell knows the world we live in and she knows the people in it.You will find suspense, mystery, maliciousness, cruel little twists of fate, and love and generosity inside even the most terrible monsters in all her stories.They are riviting and if you read this book like her novels you won't be able to stop turning the pages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Clever Stories, Some Mysteries, Others Just Crafty Tales
The title story, The Copper Peacock, may not be the best in the volume, but it lingers strongest in memory. It is a sad tale about a working class cleaning lady who comes to tidy the flat of a snobby rich society type, and though the kind-hearted, rough-spoken cleaning lady tries to be friendly, the snob only looks down on her and belittles her. We notice, as the employer does not, how hard the woman's life clearly is and catch signs that go missed by her self-important boss that the maid is in an abusive relationship. When one day the cleaning woman brings her employer a gift she thought might be appreciated--a small copper neo-modern peacock for a desk ornament--the employer does not try to conceal the contempt felt over the piece, which is clearly inferior to the refined tastes and artistic pretensions that have been cultivated over a lifetime. The unfeeling boss is heedless to the fact the item no doubt cost a lot in comparison to what the maid earned, and does not care how the rejection of the gift hurts the well-meaning woman. Shortly after this the maid is beaten to death by her violent boyfriend and the employer at last realizes regret over the reaction to the gift the maid got her.

A sad, sad, sad, story!

Fortunately the remainder of the tales in this collection are not quite so dreary. In one, a likable young professional woman is reading in a public place when some items of her clothing are stolen by a tall woman whom she sees hurrying away into a crowd. She is angered by this intrusion, and it leads on down the story to her involvement with an odd, charming man who connects back to her because of the incident of theft, which he claimed to witness. Eventually the woman is at the man's flat and as she begins looking around, she finds her missing possessions and realizes in a chilling "it's too late now" moment that the MAN was the thief, that he dresses as a woman to go out in public and commit his thefts--brilliant disguise!--and now she's, as it might be said, "in his clutches"...

Another short story is about a woman in love with a married man. The man drags the reluctant young woman into a plot to murder his wife, so that they might be married. The woman neither agrees nor exactly recoils from the plot and after the woman is dead, she accepts her place as wife and stepmother but things are rather ruined and she never thinks of the man the same way again. Years pass, she gets older and is increasingly unhappy. She begins to grow paranoid that her husband is having an affair with a woman of roughly the same age she was when she and the man first met. She has some minor "accidents" come to pass around her and is terrified that she is marked for death. Though the husband tells her it's madness, of course he loves her, she is left a screaming wreck, utterly regretting the life her complicity has gotten for her.

Probably the best mystery among these nine stories is about the apparent suicide of an elderly woman with a history of depression and past attempts on her own life. Shortly before her death, the old woman had taken to "interfering" as it is seen, between a controlling woman and the woman's rebellious teenaged daughter, whom the old woman had befriended and with whom she sympathized. Though there is a suicide note definitely written by the old woman, a police inspector is not certain she was not murdered. His colleagues question how it could be murder when there is a note left behind and the signs of suicide are so clear. The case is investigated and the facts eventually comes to light as to whether the death was in fact suicide, or murder.

Ruth Rendell's best work of all are the stories in The Copper Peacock. ... Read more

Product Description
Three books in one. ... Read more

Product Description
Nine stories from a master of psychological suspense--including one classic detective story featuring Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford--probe the darkest regions of the human psyche. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

9 short stories, only one Wexford among them
Don't expect simple murder and mayhem, or neat storybook endings.

"The Copper Peacock" is both a 'vulgar' bookmark and a vain young man who wouldn't have it as a gift. Bernard, young but successful biographer of obscure literary lights, has great (good?) luck in his friends. Before leaving for a US publicity tour, fellow author Peter loans Bernard his flat as a kid-free workspace. The flat even comes with cleaning service, Judy, a young woman who keeps it neat as Bernard's mother's place, quietly feeding him lunch (as his wife has no time to do) as he writes about literary men dazzling their working-class mistresses. But though considering himself an artist, Bernard doesn't look at the world around him - sometimes deliberately, refusing to think of life when his wife returns to her job in the spring, and sometimes not, when Judy turns up bruised from 'accidents'.

"Dying Happy" The nameless narrator listens to a dying friend unburdening himself about the love of his life - Susanna, with whom he cheated on his wife Miriam twenty years ago. Over time, he ceased openly comparing Miriam unfavourably to Susanna, and his marriage somewhat recovered. But upon her husband's recent request to see Susanna again, Miriam exploded, complete with death threats if Susanna (whom she'd never met) turned up. Funny how things work out...

"The Fish-Sitter", Cyril (viewpoint character), works for Malvina's Aquarium at a seaside resort, locking up and feeding the fish in the evenings (but not cleaning the tanks, a specialist job). When Cyril gives a crab dinner to a girl working in the same complex, Malvina accuses him of using one of her exhibits.

"Long Live the Queen" begins with a death, as Anna runs over a cat-lover's most treasured companion. Anna soon regrets leaving a note for the owner, who by turns calls Anna a murderer and demands 800 pounds in compensation (everything spent on the 'queen' throughout her life). Creepy.

Charlotte, more dedicated to her career than her husband, accepts Nell as a "Mother's Help" for car-loving three-year-old Daniel. Trouble brewing right off, as Ivan takes time off "to be with Daniel". Nell as the viewpoint character is besotted with Ivan, but nevertheless manages to lull Charlotte's suspicions with talk of an imaginary boyfriend. Charlotte appears more concerned with Daniel's late talking (and fondness for his nanny) than with a husband whose main objection to divorce seems financial. Some women have poor pattern-recognition skills - but which woman?

"A Pair of Yellow Lilies" embroidered on a jacket she can't afford distracts Bridget as her bag is stolen (ironically, while researching a motivational speaker), together with cash from her well-off aunt. But the theft gives as well as takes away; a helpful librarian befriends her, and a good-looking stranger returns some of the bag's discarded contents. Nice character study.

The nameless narrator, abandoned to the care of her loveless grandparents at birth, is fascinated by her grandmother's secret "Paperwork". The grandmother has no friends locally, but keeps up scrapbooks and a large correspondence that she locks away in her "sewing-room". Nice touches, not calling things by their right names (a study that isn't a study, a granddaughter called "it"), the fact that only basenjis are accepted as pets (dogs that never learn to bark unless raised with other breeds).

The author of a suicide note refers to herself as "An Unwanted Woman", but is it so? Events begin well before the police case as Hilary, a friend of Jenny Burden, asks for help with Sophie, her teenage daughter who has turned against Hilary's new husband despite their careful courtship. Hilary's ex-husband is years gone; Sophie has taken refuge with Ann Waterton, a grandmotherly lonely neighbour, and refuses to go home until Hilary's husband is gone. But the most the law can do is take Sophie into care. This can't go on...

A garden open to the public offers a standing challenge to find "Weeds" - one pound per weed, when the entry fee is only two pounds. Jeremy, having been dragged in to humour one of his publisher's biggest authors, wanders into the wrong secluded area, and runs across a much livelier scenario than even the unhappily married owner bullying his staff...
... Read more

Product Description
Babysnatching is one thing, but babyswapping? Inspector Wexford had not previously encountered the phenomenon of one ginger-haired child being swapped for another of the opposite sex, but the novelty soon wore off to reveal the crime's far more sinister characteristics. ... Read more