I read the novel years ago and very much enjoyed it. I was looking forward to seeing this film adaptation but was very much disappointed. For a start, moving the action from the UK to America (though filmed in Canada) was a big mistake. For instance, how does an illiterate woman manage to apply for a passport and a visa? It just doesn't make sense. Also, I felt Rita Tushingham, although a good actress, was too sympathetic for the part of Eunice. The contrast between the upper-middle class snobbish Coverdales and the working class Eunice and Joan Smith was better portrayed in Rendell's novel. Giles, the nerdish stepson, was much more bland in this movie. All in all, a disappointment. Stick to the book.
Review of A Judgment in Stone
