From Doon with Death

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From Doon With Death
Arrow paperback edition (1997)
Author	Ruth Rendell
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Inspector Wexford #1
Genre(s)	Crime / Mystery novel
Publisher	John Long Publishing
Publication date	1964
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages	182 pp (Arrow edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-09-920350-2 (Arrow edition)
Followed by	To Fear a Painted Devil

From Doon with Death is the debut novel of British writer Ruth Rendell, first published in 1964. The novel introduced her popular recurring character Inspector Wexford, who has since gone on to feature in 20 of her novels.

[edit] Plot summary

The police knew all about Margaret Parsons - a religious, old-fashioned and respectable woman, as unexciting and dependable as her marriage. But it wasn't her life that interested Wexford - it was her violent, passionate death.

[edit] Criticism and context

Although the identity of the victim's lover "Doon" would not be much of a surprise to the 21st century reader, at the time of its release it was considered ground-breaking and daring, and this novel immediately garnered Rendell international critical attention.

v • d • e Ruth Rendell — The Inspector Wexford Novels From Doon with Death • Wolf to the Slaughter • A New Lease of Death • The Best Man to Die • A Guilty Thing Surprised • No More Dying Then • Murder Being Once Done • Some Lie and Some Die • Shake Hands Forever • A Sleeping Life • Put on by Cunning • The Speaker of Mandarin • An Unkindness of Ravens • The Veiled One • Kissing the Gunner's Daughter • Simisola • Road Rage • Harm Done • The Babes in the Wood • End in Tears • Not in the Flesh