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Book Reviewed by:In the tradition of Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels comes a deliciously unsettling tale of psychological suspense that delves into the mind of a man with a chilling double life.
You won't remember Mr. Heming. He was the estate agent who showed you around your comfortable home, suggested a financial package, negotiated a price with the owner, and called you with the good news. The less good news is that, all these years later, he still has the key. That's absurd, you laugh. Of all the many hundreds of houses he has sold, why would he still have the key to mine? The answer is; he has the keys to them all.
William Heming's most at home in a stranger's private things. He makes it his business to know all their secrets, and how they arrange their lives. His every pleasure is in his leafy community. He loves and knows every inch of it, feels nurtured by it, and would defend it - perhaps not with his life but if it came to it, with yours. Things begin to change when Mr. Hemings' obsession shifts from many people to one, and then a dead body winds up in someone's garden. For a man who is used to going unremarked, Mr. Heming's finds his natural routine becomes uncomfortably interrupted.
By the end, it's quite possible that you'll be checking the cabinets, attics, bathtubs and the spaces under beds in your own home to be sure no one is lurking in darkness. You might also give strong consideration to changing the locks!..continued
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(Reviewed by Rory L. Aronsky).
On a wall in his home in A Pleasure and a Calling, William Heming hangs the keys to all the houses he's sold, copies made from the originals that their residents still use. He can go in those houses, no matter if the owners are home or not. It makes for disquieting reading, but also inspires curiosity about what types of keys exist.
A paracentric key, which looks like a fused tuning fork with metal teeth on one end, is commonly used in prisons, as it offers higher security against lock picking.
Cars made since the 1990s (mainly upscale cars) have internal cut keys. Also known as laser-cut keys, they are thicker than an average car key, with slits on both sides so they can operate in the lock either way they're inserted.
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