A review by marystevens
The Chimney Sweeper's Boy by Barbara Vine

4.0

Ruth Rendell is a wonderful writer and this is one of her best. A best-selling and critically acclaimed writer, Gerald Candless, has a fatal heart attack and is mourned by his two adoring daughters and, -sort of- by his wife. The publisher is looking for one of the daughters to do a biography and Sarah, the oldest, an English professor, takes it up. The mystery is: who is Gerald Candless, really? We learn bits as we see the three women handle the death and we learn even more from Sarah's investigation. It seems there's no record of any family or work or educational history for Gerald before he turns 25. Hmmm.