Book: ‘Speaker of Mandarin’ by Ruth Rendell – July 24th, 2018
by Rob Smith, Jr. on Jul.24, 2018, under Books
Speaker of Mandarin by Ruth Rendell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This Wexford mystery is odd in half of the book being in one location and then shifts and stays in another location and tries to relate the two.
The first half is a bit of a tour of China in the early ’80s. Lots characters and stories of each.The writing of China is very good. The character profiles are standard mystery fare.
Then there is death. Per chance it involves all who were profiled. Including Wexford. Now Wexford goes back and re-studies those he had seen months earlier in China. Lo and behold! All become available. I find this very hard to believe.
The mystery also bugs me in that with a couple of tweaks the story didn’t have to have anything to do with China to begin with. I guess the book’s location gave Rendell reason to travel.
Rendell does include a bunch of twists and turns that are very well done. She was a very good writer and that comes through, what I find a rather improbable tale.
Nevertheless it is good, viewing the book as two stories.
Bottom line: I recommend this book. 6 out of ten points.
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