In these nine short stories Ruth Rendell indicates hidden depths in ordinary events and creates a sense of profound unease. The stories are: A Pair of Yellow Lilies, Paperwork, Mother's Help, Long Live the Queen, Dying Happy, The Copper Peacock, Weeds, The Fish-Sitter, and An Unwanted Woman.
Maggie vowed to never marry a man who can’t laugh or dance, but when she and the dull new doctor in town, Everett Dulanis, wind up spending the night together in an abandoned dugout house, all that changes. Her father is the best man and his shotgun is the bridesmaid at the wedding where a union has been made, but there’s certainly no unity. Everett was engaged to Carolina Prescott, a southern lady in...