The Copper Peacock

A short story collection published by Hutchinson in 1991

The Copper Peacock is a hideous bookmark given to Bernard, a writer, by his attractive cleaning lady, Judy. She had brought order to a hitherto chaotic life, but now the bookmark destroys all this, shattering his razor-sharp sensibilities. If only she had given herself, then she might have lived.

In this and eight other landmark short stories, including the Wexford tale An “Unwanted Woman”, Ruth Rendell once again proves she is the mistress of crime and mystery genres.

Notes

• Contains: “A Pair Of Yellow Lilies”, “Paperwork”, “Mother’s Help”, Long Live The Queen", “Dying Happy”, “The Copper Peacock”, “Weeds”, “The Fish-Sitter” and An Unwanted Woman (A Wexford story).

• “An Unwanted Woman” was combined with “Old Wives’ Tales” from the short story collection, Means of Evil, to create one episode of the Inspector Wexford TV series in 1992.

Contemporary Reads ²

• John Bossy - Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair

• Frances Fyfield - Deep Sleep

• Rohinton Mistry - Such a Long Journey

• Penelope Lively - City of the Mind

• Ben Okri - The Famished Road

• Jung Chang - Wild Swans

Footnotes

1. Queens of Crime, BBC Radio 1991. ↩︎

2. Book links may earn this site a small commission. ↩︎