Blood Lines: Long and Short Stories

By Ruth Rendell

Book Overview

Hailed by Patricia Cornwell as unequivocally the most brilliant mystery writer of our time, Ruth Rendell now delivers an all-new collection of long- and short-story mysteries. As always with Rendell, these stories of mystery and wrongdoing shine their light into the dark places of the human psyche.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517703238
• ISBN13: 9780517703236
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: Crown
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Weak Beginning, but progressively improves

Ruth Rendell is the quintessential mistress of weaving ingenuous stories from mundane situations. All of her short stories provide brief glimpses into the minds of unusual characters with interesting ideosyncracies. "Blood Lines" is yet another collection of interesting stories. This audio book is abridged, which is disappointing, but the narrators do exceptional jobs with the different stories. The only story I disliked was the title piece, an Inspector Wexford mystery that was fairly weak. All the other stories exceed expectations. Some of my favorites include: 1. "Expectations". An interesting first-person narrative that reimagines a literary classic by Dickens from an unusual perspective. 2. "Slits and Slivers". This macabre tale will force readers to ponder the real reason why certain foods in shops are recalled! Terrifying and thought-provoking. 3. "Lizzie's Lover". A discussion of a Robert Browning poem by an English teacher and his lover results in an unexpected twist. 4. "Clothes". A poignant tale about a woman's compulsion that seeks to destroy her. These are just a few delights that await you in this collection. I'd also recommend "The Copper Peacock and Other Stories," and "Means of Evil," both books by the same author. Happy reading, and God bless you.

Rendell's Masterpiece

The novelette included in this collection, "The Strawberry Tree," may well be Rendell's masterpiece, the single work that stands above all her other many fine novels and stories. It's a work of exquisite craftsmanship and deep psychological depth. I gasped at one point, laughed at another, and ended in tears. A British television adaptation (with the same title; you can find details at imbd.com) is also excellent.

Short stories that don't feel like a compromise.

Whether in a novel or a short story, Ruth Rendell's storytelling is just captivating. Her style is consistently haunting, there is depth to her characters, and there's the twist which will come at you out of nowhere. Whether you're a dedicated mystery fan or simply enjoy reading extremely skillfully put together prose, regardless of genre, Ruth Rendell is irresistible (and very addictive!).

A collection of 11 stories

The two longest stories in this collection are the first story, "Blood Lines," an Inspector Wexford tale of 40 pages, and the last story, "The Strawberry Tree," a somewhat strange tale which is 85 pages long. In between are 9 short stories, some of which are only 6 pages. As usual with collections, some stories are better than others. All the stories involve murder, attempted murder, or accidental death, with the exception of "Clothes," which is about a compulsive shopper. As in other English mysteries, guns do not come into play. Murders tend to be by poison or bludgeon. The author has an inventive mind when it comes to eliminating people (I would be afraid to get on her wrong side).While some stories are very good, I had trouble getting interested in the long novelette, "The Strawberry Tree," which is written in a narrative form with only a little dialogue. The narrative starts on the island of Majorca with no real indication of why the narrator is there, then skips back 40 years to give an account of past events on Majorca, her life in between, and finally her arrival on Majorca where the story started. A mystery is introduced along the way, and a solution is finally presented. This story, like the others, was written in the 1990's, but the Spanish apparently didn't use DNA analysis.

Ok collection, until the final story

This is an ok collection of short stories, right up until the final novella, "The Strawberry Tree". Until then, most of the stories are enjoyable, all are well written, but some of them don't have much impact. "Clothes" is a bit puzzling, to name just one. However, there are some excellent ones. "In All Honesty", "Lizzie's Lover" and the wonderful "Unnacceptable Levels" which is very short, but the best short story in the collection apart from the final one. The characters are all well drawn with accurate psychology, and many have rather disturbing and strange traits. The first story, a Wexford, which serves as the title for the collection, is well written and clever, but not quite as entertaining as some other Wexford short stories. However, now we come to the final story. "The Strawberry Tree" is a short novella of about 90 pages, but it is the best story in the collection, and possibly the best novella i have ever read. It says many things about the human condition, as well as being incredibly touching, well evoked, interesting, clever, very well written, etc. It in itself is worth the price of the entire book. Set in part in Spain, she describes the foreign landscape beautifully, as she does the relationships between the four main children in the story. It is a beautiful story, full of psychological perception. It's intriguing, compelling, emotional, sometimes sad, and has a subtle twist to the tale that it is hard to pre-empt. First class, but this book by the world's most talented writer. Of this generation or any previous.