Kissing the Gunner's Daughter
Kissing the Gunner's Daughter is a 1992 novel by the British mystery writer Ruth Rendell, featuring the recurring character Inspector Reg Wexford.[1] The title of the book refers to historical corporal punishment in the Royal Navy where a sailor was positioned over a cannon to receive a flogging.[1]
 First edition (UK) | |
| Author | Ruth Rendell |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Inspector Wexford # 15 |
| Genre | Crime, Mystery novel |
| Publisher | Hutchinson (UK) Mysterious Press (US) |
Publication date | January 1992 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 345 pp |
| ISBN | 0-09-175218-3 |
| OCLC | 26302136 |
| Preceded by | The Veiled One |
| Followed by | Simisola |
Plot
Four members of a well-to-do family in Kingsmarkham are shot during dinner, and only Daisy survives with minor injuries. Daisy is the teenage granddaughter of Davina Flory, a popular writer. Wexford wishes to protect her in a fatherly way, as he is with his own daughter Sheila, whose new boyfriend Augustine Casey is a post-post-modernist novelist who has already published a novel devoid of any characters.[1] Daisy had never met her father. Wexford finds that Daisy's father is a former football player nicknamed "Gunner" because he played for Arsenal Football Club.[1]
Critical reception
Entertainment Weekly praised the novel's analysis of class politics in Britain, but found the plot and its denouement both obvious and far-fetched.[2]
References
- Herbert Mitgang (June 12, 1992). "Books of The Times; 2 Serious Mysteries With the Nerve to Be Fun". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
- Rubins, Josh (May 22, 1992). "Book Review—Kissing the Gunner's Daughter". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 15 April 2012.