Ripley Under Water
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| Recent paperback edition cover | |
| Author | Patricia Highsmith |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Ripliad |
| Genre(s) | Mystery novel |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury (UK) & Alfred A. Knopf (USA) |
| Released | 3 October 1991 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 256 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7475-1004-0 (first edition, hardback) |
| Preceded by | The Boy Who Followed Ripley |
Ripley Under Water is the final in Patricia Highsmith's series of 5 books known as the Ripliad.
[edit] Plot summary
Now living in the French countryside with his wife, Heloise, Tom Ripley is bothered by an obnoxious American couple who have rented a house nearby and who seem bent on exploring incidents in Ripley's past. With no apparent personal motive, David Pritchard and his wife Janice refer to an American art dealer named Murchison who mysteriously disappeared some years ago after visiting Ripley. Ripley, who had murdered Murchison to prevent the exposure of an art forgery scheme and then dumped his body in a nearby canal, grows increasingly anxious and angry as Pritchard harasses him and begins dredging the local canals.
Highsmith leads up to her resolution unsensationally and evenhandedly as she describes Ripley's ordinary days spent tending his dahlias, practicing Schubert on the harpsichord, relishing his meals and looking out tenderly for his wife, Heloise, and their housekeeper, Mme. Annette. The perfect gentleman, he is civil, considerate, utterly well mannered — and deadly.
| Tom Ripley series (the Ripliad) |
|---|
| The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) |
| Ripley Under Ground (1970) |
| Ripley's Game (1974) |
| The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980) |
| Ripley Under Water (1991) |
