One Across, Two Down
One Across, Two Down is a psychological suspense novel by British writer Ruth Rendell. It was first published in 1971.[1] In 1976, it was made into the film, Diary of the Dead by Arvin Brown, written by I.C. Rapoport, and starring Geraldine Fitzgerald and Hector Elizondo.
Plot
Stanley Manning is a fortysomething petrol-station attendant and hobbyist crossword puzzler who lives with his wife, Vera, and mother-in-law, Maud. Maud is a controlling elderly woman who despises Stanley as a ne’er-do-well, based partly on his conviction prior to meeting Vera for mugging an old woman. They make Vera's life unhappy as they bicker every day, but on learning that Maud has £20,000 (£284,825 as of 2019, per inflation) due in her will to Vera, Stanley plans to deal with Maud once and for all by interfering with her medication.
Things go steadily wrong when Maud's friend Ethel comes to stay, and soon Stanley's crosswords become an obsession as he tries to stay calm in the face of danger on several fronts.
References
- ^ "ONE ACROSS, TWO DOWN | Kirkus Reviews".
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- From Doon with Death
- A New Lease of Death
- Wolf to the Slaughter
- The Best Man to Die
- A Guilty Thing Surprised
- No More Dying Then
- Murder Being Once Done
- Some Lie and Some Die
- Shake Hands Forever
- A Sleeping Life
- Put on By Cunning
- The Speaker of Mandarin
- An Unkindness of Ravens
- The Veiled One
- Kissing the Gunner's Daughter
- Simisola
- Road Rage
- Harm Done
- The Babes in the Wood
- End in Tears
- Not in the Flesh
- The Monster in the Box
- The Vault
- No Man's Nightingale
- To Fear a Painted Devil
- Vanity Dies Hard
- The Secret House of Death
- One Across, Two Down
- The Face of Trespass
- A Demon in My View
- A Judgement in Stone
- Make Death Love Me
- The Lake of Darkness
- Master of the Moor
- The Killing Doll
- The Tree of Hands
- Live Flesh
- Heartstones
- Talking to Strange Men
- The Bridesmaid
- Going Wrong
- The Crocodile Bird
- The Keys to the Street
- A Sight for Sore Eyes
- Adam and Eve and Pinch Me
- The Rottweiler
- Thirteen Steps Down
- The Thief
- The Water's Lovely
- Portobello
- Tigerlily's Orchids
- The Saint Zita Society
- The Girl Next Door
- Dark Corners
- A Dark-Adapted Eye
- A Fatal Inversion
- The House of Stairs
- Gallowglass
- King Solomon's Carpet
- Asta's Book
- No Night is Too Long
- The Brimstone Wedding
- The Chimney Sweeper's Boy
- Grasshopper
- The Blood Doctor
- The Minotaur
- The Birthday Present
- The Child's Child
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