To Fear a Painted Devil
A stand-alone novel published by John Long in 1965
To Fear A Painted Devil is a non-series novel with its roots in the classic English mystery. However, it blooms into something very different under Rendell’s care, giving us the first real hint of her skills as an anatomist of the human psyche.
Like any small community, Linchester has its intrigues: love affairs, money problems, and unhappy marriages. But the gossip is elevated to new heights when young Patrick Selby dies on the very night of his beautiful wife’s birthday party.
Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil.
(Macbeth, Act II, Scene ii)
The whole neighbourhood was there, witness to the horrible attack of wasp stings Patrick suffered at the end of the evening But did Patrick die of a wasp sting? Dr Greenleaf thinks not. Heart failure is more likely.
Still, Greenleaf isn’t at peace about his death. After all, everyone in Linchester hated Patrick. With the help of a certain naturalist, Dr Greenleaf begins to think about murder.
Notes
The novel is set in Linchester, a fictional Nottinghamshire housing development built on the former site of an old country manor.
Lost Heritage: a memorial to England’s lost country houses.
The Great Houses of Nottinghamshire and the County Families by Leonard Jacks (1881).
Contemporary Reads 2
John Williams - Stoner
Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö - Roseanna
Ross MacDonald - The Far Side of the Dollar
Iris Murdoch - The Red and the Green
John Ball - In the Heat of the Night
Julian Symons - The Belting Inheritance
Footnotes
Essay on Ruth Rendell for Penguin Random House ↩︎
Book links may earn this site a small commission. ↩︎