Book Review: Portobello

A troubled man with a heart condition drops an envelope full of cash in the busy shopping district of Portobello Road. A deeply obsessive art dealer finds it and posts flyers in an attempt to find the owner of the money. A shiftless young man from a family of ex-cons sees the flyer and tries to claim the cash. These minor, random events bring three people and those around them into a web of sinister interactions in Ruth Rendell's new mystery Portobello (also available in large print.) Not a typical whodunnit, Rendell's novel instead focuses on the people who are affected by the simple act of dropping something in the street and the network of actions that happen as a consequence, a fascinating collection of character studies and a slice-of-life picture of a London neighborhood.

Female British mystery writers have made a name for themselves in recent years, with novels often driven by strongly-drawn, intriguing characters. Other suggestions include Minette Walters, whose recent title The Chameleon's Shadow (reviewed here) focuses on a wounded Iraq war veteran who might or might not have committed a series of murders, and Mo Hayder, whose gritty novel Pig Island follows an investigative reporter into a secluded religious compound riddled with secrets. -Michelle (Sunset)