Means of Evil

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Means of Evil
Author Ruth Rendell
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Crime/Mystery Short Stories
Publisher Hutchinson
Released 8 October 1979
Media Type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 174 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN ISBN 0-09-139630-1 (first edition, hardback)
Preceded by Make Death Love Me
Followed by The Lake of Darkness

Means of Evil is a collection of short stories by British writer Ruth Rendell. All the stories feature her popular protagonist Inspector Wexford, and fill in important gaps in the chronolgy of the series, such as Inspector Burden's second marriage. They are not considered part of the novel series, but are certainly necessary for fans. The stories were often published first in places such as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, so the events of stories do not actually fit between the next Wexford novel (Put on by Cunning, 1981) and the previous, (A Sleeping Life, 1979), but before.

[edit] Contents

The collection contains five stories, all featuring Wexford:

  1. Means of Evil
  2. Old Wives Tales
  3. Ginger and the Kingsmarkham Chalk Circle
  4. Achilles Heel
  5. When the Wedding Was Over