Portobello: A Novel

INCLUDES AN EXCERPT OF RENDELL'S FINAL NOVEL, <i>DARK CORNERS</i><br> <br>Ruth Rendell is widely considered to be crime fiction's reigning queen, with a remarkable career spanning more than forty years. Now, in <i>Portobello, </i>she delivers a captivating and intricate tale that weaves together the troubled lives of several people in the gentrified neighborhood of London's Notting Hill.<br><br>Walking to the shops one day, fifty-year-old Eugene Wren discovers an envelope on the street bulging with cash. A man plagued by a shameful addiction - and his own good intentions - Wren hatches a plan to find the money's rightful owner. Instead of going to the police, or taking the cash for himself, he prints a notice and posts it around Portobello Road. This ill-conceived act creates a chain of events that links Wren to other Londoners - people afflicted with their own obsessions and despairs. As these volatile characters come into Wren's life - and the life of his trusting fiancée - the consequences will change them all.<br> <br> <i>Portobello </i>is a wonderfully complex tour de force featuring a dazzling depiction of one of London's most intriguing neighborhoods - and the dangers beneath its newly posh veneer.