Blood Lines
A short story collection published by Hutchinson in 1995
Murder itself is not interesting. It is the impetus to murder, the passions and terrors which bring it to pass and the varieties of feeling surrounding the act that make of a sordid or revolting event compulsive fascination.
This collection of long and short stories probes the patterns of everyday life to pinpoint the frailties, the desires of deception, and the guilty secrets of human beings.
It begins with “Blood Lines”, a story featuring Chief Inspector Wexford, and ends with “The Strawberry Tree”, a novella-length tale of lost innocence set on the island of Majorca.
Notes
Also contains: “Lizzie’s Lover”, “Shreds And Slivers”, “Burning End”, “The Man Who was the God of Love”, “The Carer”, “Expectations”, “Clothes”, “Unacceptable Levels”, and “In All Honesty”.
“The Strawberry Tree” and the Wexford novella “Blood Lines” were both adapted for TV by George Baker.
“Burning End” read by Sue Johnston for BBC Radio 4 2002.
“The Wink” read by Kathy Staff. BBC Radio 4 2002.
Contemporary Reads 2
Karin Fossum - Eva’s Eye
Val McDermid - The Mermaids Singing
Rohinton Mistry - A Fine Balance
Philip Pullman - Northern Lights
Robin Hobb - Assassin’s Apprentice
Robert Harris - Enigma
Footnotes
The Reason Why: An Anthology of the Murderous Mind, Jonathan Cape 1995. ↩︎
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