Myth / The Astronomical Scarf / Walter's Leg (Storycuts)

Myth / The Astronomical Scarf / Walter's Leg (Storycuts)

Summary

In 'Myth' the shame of being made redundant seems to have robbed David Meacher of vitality. Then, on a trip abroad, he becomes fascinated with an ancient map of the Garden of Eden. Returning to England, his obsession only increases and even re-energises him...but it is not a force for good.

In 'The Astronomical Scarf' a magnificent silk scarf, deepest blue and with the constellations of the night-sky patterned in silver across it, is weirdly destined to pass through many hands, and to shape many destinies.

In 'Walter's Leg' his grandchildren's persistent questioning leads Walter to reminisce on a distant childhood escapade - in which he was shot in the leg. The memory provokes a desire to track down the perpetrator, but without a thought for the consequences.

Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Piranha To Scurfy.

About the author

Ruth Rendell

Ruth Rendell was an exceptional crime writer, and will be remembered as a legend in her own lifetime. Her groundbreaking debut novel, From Doon With Death, was first published in 1964 and introduced the reader to her enduring and popular detective, Inspector Reginald Wexford, who went on to feature in twenty-four of her subsequent novels.

With worldwide sales of approximately 20 million copies, Rendell was a regular Sunday Times bestseller. Her sixty bestselling novels include police procedurals, some of which have been successfully adapted for TV, stand-alone psychological mysteries, and a third strand of crime novels under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Very much abreast of her times, the Wexford books in particular often engaged with social or political issues close to her heart.

Rendell won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger for 1976’s best crime novel with A Demon in My View, a Gold Dagger award for Live Flesh in 1986, and the Sunday Times Literary Award in 1990. In 2013 she was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer.

Ruth Rendell died in May 2015. Her final novel, Dark Corners, was published in October 2015.
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