A review by bucherca49
To Fear A Painted Devil by Ruth Rendell

4.0

The murder is set in a community of mostly upper middle class families, who live in large houses built on the land that was once the "Manor" of Old Marvell. Following Old Marvell's death, the Palladian manor house was torn down and the land developer built eight houses (all designed in different styles) around a green and a pond. Old Marvell's son Crispin, lives in a bungalow, converted from four almshouses. A plaque over the front door reads "1722. Andreas Quercus Fecit." He spends his time writing a history of Chantefleur Abbey and tending his bees. in this setting, where there are unhappy couples, adulteries, cruelties, and financial instabilities, a death occurs.