Although known primarily for her mystery series character, Inspector Wexford, Ruth Rendell has often written stand-alone mysteries that leave readers guessing till the very last page. In Ruth Rendell Mysteries Set 2, six of those mysteries were brought to life for the television screen and are now packaged in this attractive DVD set.
The six shows are also packaged in another interesting manner. Three of them were filmed as single episodes, and three others were filmed as double episodes that originally left viewers hanging for a week in between. Thankfully the DVD set allows the viewer to get right back into the mystery with the next episode on the disc.
The stories are all solid British tales of mystery and suspense, where the bloodletting is kept to a minimum or off-stage. My wife prefers these kinds of mysteries, and I enjoy engaging in a battle of wits with her over these cozy puzzles. For some reason she can handle the CSI franchises pretty well, but once a filmmaker buries the needle in action and violence, her interest wanes pretty quickly. I’m a guy, so that’s where my interest generally picks up.
However, we’ve found the BBC mystery series to be a great compromise when we want to watch television together. Fans of BBC mysteries know there are a lot of great shows out there to be watched, and Ruth Rendell’s shows (this set all based on short stories) are excellent.
Interestingly enough, for someone who’s known for attention to detail, Ruth Rendell has an interesting story of her younger years. In the beginning of her professional life, she worked as a reporter for Essex newspapers where she evidently reported on events she didn’t care for. One night she “phoned in” a news article (meaning she didn’t attend and just used notes from past coverage to write the article) about an annual and boring tennis club meeting. Unfortunately, the main speaker had a heart attack and died during the meeting. Her report didn’t cover that. She was fired on the spot. Given that experience, it’s no wonder that this gifted author has a taste for irony that finds its way into her work.
The stories in this set include “Bribery & Corruption” which stars James D’Arcy as a troubled young man who has been quietly in love with a woman that his widowed father (Tim Woodward) has also had an affair with and just might have killed. It was interesting to see Ravi Kapoor as a police sergeant because the character was different than the one he played on Crossing Jordan. There are a lot of twists and turns in this one.
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