Shake Hands Forever

Wexford's Chimera
Review of the Arrow Books paperback edition (1976/1985 reprint) of the original Hutchinson hardcover (1975)

Ruth Rendell continues to impress me with another of my 1980's re-reads. Shake Hands for Ever (most later editions show the title as Shake Hands Forever), is listed as No. 9 in her Inspector Wexford series (1964-2013).

Angela Hathall has been strangled in her cottage in West Sussex. She was discovered by her mother-in-law and husband as they came for a weekend visit. The husband Robert Hathall was commuting weekly to London for work. The trip had been meant as a reconciliation of Hathall's mother with his Angela, his 2nd wife, with whom there had been an earlier quarrel. Wexford has a theory about the crime, but no show more one else believes him, especially his Chief Constable Charles Griswold. After complaints by the husband, he is taken off the case.

Despite having to work the case unofficially, Wexford persists in having Hathall occasionally followed in London by paying off an old contact and by calling in favours from his nephew Howard Fortune, a Chief Superintendent of CID in London. Over the course of 15 months, Wexford continues to hope that the case will catch a break and that Hathall and a co-conspirator will be discovered. He is continually disappointed until a chance coincidence ties Hathall into an apparently unrelated payroll fraud. It all leads to a final dramatic conclusion with a shocking twist reveal by Wexford.

See book cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/66/Shakehandsforever.jpg
Cover of the original Hutchinson hardcover (1975). Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Rendell also plays a sly game with readers by introducing a suspiciously attractive neighbour widow Nancy Lake, who was a partial witness to events at the murder cottage. Lake seems especially drawn to Wexford and flirtatiously arranges to keep meeting him throughout the course of the investigation. Is she somehow involved in the crime or is the Inspector that much of a romantic interest to her? Rendell teasingly leaves their final meeting to your imagination: Did he or didn't he cheat on his faithful wife Dora? Your opinion of Wexford's character, based on the previous 8 novels, will determine your answer to that question.

I re-read Shake Hands for Ever due to the discovery of a hoard of my old 1980's mystery paperbacks while cleaning out a storage locker. I only have a few of the old Ruth Rendell paperbacks, so this isn't the start of one of my complete binge re-reads. Rendell is definitely one of the masters of the Silver Age of Crime though, so I will certainly be re-reading several of her books.

Trivia and Links
Shake Hands Forever was adapted for television as part of the long running series of The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1987-2000), sometimes called 'The Inspector Wexford Mysteries'. It ran as Episodes 4 to 6 of Series 2 in 1988. The entire 3 Episodes can be viewed on YouTube here. The TV series stars actor George Baker as Inspector Wexford. show less

Definitely one of my favorites so far in our buddy read of all the Wexfords in sequence. Clever plotting, quick and evocative character descriptions, a narrative that keeps moving along, and a tense ending. Although early on I suspected what did turn out to be the ultimate solution, Rendell threw in enough plausible red herrings that I dismissed the idea. Ha!

These books are great entertainment in compact form. They aren't noir, they aren't cozies, they are police procedurals written in the time before cell phones existed and before forensics took over (at least at this point in the series). It's all about the deductive powers and persistence of the detectives, Wexford in particular.

I always feel like letting out a very satisfied sigh show more when I've finished one of these. Time well spent. show less

From the first sentences, I was gripped with Rendell's deliciously wry description of her characters. The plot itself is rather far-fetched: s series of coincidences lead to the discovery of the murderer followed by a last second denouement. What really makes this book's strength is Rendell's impeccable writing with her knack for precise words to convey her story.

[Shake Hands Forever] by Ruth Rendell
Inspector Wexford Series Book #9
3 ★'s

What's It About?
The bed was neatly made, and the woman on top neatly strangled.

According to all accounts, Angela Hathall was deeply in love with her husband and far too paranoid to invite an unknown person into their home. So who managed to gain entry and strangle her without a struggle? That is the problem facing Inspector Wexford. Perhaps it was the mystery woman who left her fingerprints on the Hathall's bathtub? Perhaps it was Angela's husband who lied about a stolen library book? And why was the Hathall home, usually so unkempt, exquisitely clean the day of Angela's death? Then a neighbor--friendly, knowing, disarmingly beautiful--offers Wexford her show more assistance. And what begins as a rather tricky case turns into an obsession that threatens to destroy the Inspector's career--as well as his marriage.

What Did I Think?
This was a bit unusual in that from the beginning we knew who did the dastardly deed...just not HOW they did it. That alone kept this reader turning page after page. Inspector Wexford is his usual complex, flawed and true to life character. Even tho this wasn't the absolutely best Inspector Wexford book I've read I still would say that those who enjoy British village mysteries and police procedural would not only like this book but the entire Wexford series. There are 24 books in the series now. Ruth Rendell died in 2015 and I don't believe anyone else is going to take up the series. Too bad....but they probably wouldn't be the same. show less

(35) The 9th book I think in the Inspector Wexford series. I read this in close proximity to the last on vacation and this is a good way to read these type of books - easier to get into the rhythm and the characters and the writing style which are a bit quirky in this series. There is a lot of repetitive seemingly inconsequential musings and very little action; Wexford is a police chief but is constantly inserting literary quotes (obscure ones to me at least) into casual conversations with other police men who seem to get the quote. Really? And the transitions between paragraphs and chapters are often not clear. But it all grows on you and this was a good one. I did not at all get the twist! A man brings his mother home to make amends show more with his second wife. The house is neat and clean when they get there but his bride is lying on the bed strangled… The only clue, the murderer has an L shaped scar on their finger. So just look at the hands of the suspects - easy, right?

Not so simple and cleverly done though the novel itself is not really a page turner. The vice we explore this time through a ‘good’ character is infidelity and it is the Inspector himself that is at risk. Rendell seemed almost more interested in this side story than in the mystery which detracted in my opinion. Empirically this was about the same caliber as all the others but I think because of the well executed twist, it has been my favorite. I will read on and may try harder to read them in closer succession for best results. show less

The 9th entry in the Wexford series. It looks like our inspector is going to be outmaneuvered by the man he is sure is the murderer.
He's been ordered not to harass the man, but can't resist following him. And Wexford is deeply smitten by a woman incidental to the investigation, to boot. Interesting, with a twist at the end that I did see coming, and was most satisfied with.

Robert Hathall takes his mother down from London to Kingsmarkham to try and bring about a reconciliation between his mother and his wife. When they arrive at his home his mother finds his wife's strangled body in the bedroom.

The time flew past while I was reading this one and I had to stay up late to finish it. I certainly didn't see the final twist coming.