The award-winning author of Babes in the Woods and The Rottweiler brings us another gripping Inspector Wexford novel. A lump of concrete dropped deliberately from a little stone bridge
over a relatively unfrequented road kills the wrong person. The driver behind is spared. But only for a while... One particular member of the local press is gunning for the Chief Inspector,
distinctly unimpressed with what he regards as old-fashioned police methods. But Wexford, with his old friend and partner, Mike Burden, along with two new recruits to the Kingsmarkham team, pursue
their inquiries with a diligence and humanity that make Ruth Rendell’s detective stories enthralling, exciting and very touching.
Long-listed for the 2007 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award
Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
The award-winning author of Babes in the Woods and The Rottweiler brings us another gripping Inspector Wexford novel. A lump of concrete dropped deliberately from a little stone bridge
over a relatively unfrequented road kills the wrong person. The driver behind is spared. But only for a while... One particular member of the local press is gunning for the Chief Inspector,
distinctly unimpressed with what he regards as old-fashioned police methods. But Wexford, with his old friend and partner, Mike Burden, along with two new recruits to the Kingsmarkham team, pursue
their inquiries with a diligence and humanity that make Ruth Rendell’s detective stories enthralling, exciting and very touching.
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
“Meticulous and coolly malicious…Flat-out brilliant.” —New York Times Book Review
“Within the flexible moral
framework of Rendell’s world, all it takes is a murder to bring out the
nastiness in everyone. She’s flat-out brilliant at using her quintessentially
decent detective and his family, along with his colleagues on the Kingsmarkham
police force, to test whatever issues happen to be upending the established
order. While not as suspenseful as her non-series crime novels or as dark as
the psychological thrillers she writes as Barbara Vine, this carefully plotted
whodunit functions as both a subtle case study in the criminal aberrations of
parental love and a sly object lesson in the evils of intolerance.” —New York Times
“Rendell casts a particularly wry
eye at Wexford’s attempts to adapt to particulars of today’s world, from unwed
mothers to global warming and quite a bit more. At the top of that list is
Wexford’s extraordinarily politically correct subordinate, Hannah Goldsmith,
ever on guard for displays of racism or sexism, who finds herself attracted to
an Indian inspector whose courtship manners are strictly Old World. Goldsmith
provides the mystery with humor, a touch of romance, and its inevitable
hairsbreadth escape.” —Washington Post
“Once again Rendell provides a
thoughtful mystery, persistent suspense, and a welcome return to Kingsmarkham.” —Daily News (London)
“Suspense and surprise…Rendell
displays her incomparable skills to full effect.” —Orlando Sentinel
“An unpredictable denouement…Rendell
is in top form here.” —San Diego Union-Tribune
“Against
[a] sinister backdrop stands Wexford, who’s in lion-in-winter mode. He’s irked
and perplexed by modern life, by the casual way young girls conceive babies, by
the sprawl devouring the once-lush Sussex countryside, even by his own
fractious family. But he never loses the anger and dedication that propel him
to solve crimes and understand evil…Rendell fans…should be well satisfied.” —Publishers Weekly
“Plot twists abound for those into
neck-snapping plots.” —Bookmarks magazine
“A rich
cast of characters makes up for the mechanical plot in Rendell’s twentieth
Chief Inspector Wexford mystery, starring the shrewd, grandfatherly detective
and his handsome, considerably younger sidekick, Burden…Prolific three-time
Edgar winner Rendell proves a master at rendering the joys and sorrows of human
relationships.” —Booklist
“Wexford
emerges from an intricate web of red herrings to identify a sadly amateurish
scam and a surprising killer. Average for Rendell’s distinguished list of
whodunits, which makes it just a whisker below state of the art.” —Kirkus Reviews
“John Lee’s
great achievement in reading Ruth Rendell’s twentieth novel about Chief
Inspector Wexford is his ability to draw the reader into the story. Lee
provides a fully voiced performance of the book, differentiating the characters
effectively; furthermore, his use of silence, of pace, of even his ever precise
diction manages always to make the story intriguing. Lee’s accomplishment is
all the more worthwhile since the novel, while as insightful about human nature
as Rendell’s other Wexford books, is a bit straightforward and unsurprising in
its plotting…Lee sounds truly interested in the story, and in some indefinable
way that compels the listener’s attention, too. Winner of an AudioFile
Earphones Award.” —AudioFile
Ruth Rendell (1930–2015) wrote more than sixty novels in a career spanning fifty years. She won numerous awards for her writing, including three Edgars—the highest accolade from Mystery
Writers of America—as well as four Gold Daggers and a Diamond Dagger for outstanding contribution to the genre from England’s prestigious Crime Writer’s Association. She was also the winner of the
MWA Grand Master Award. A longtime member of the House of Lords, she lived in London.
Titles by Author
Details
Details
Format:
Digital Download
Available Formats :
Digital Download
Category:
Fiction/Mystery & Detective
Publisher:
Random House Audio
Runtime:
10.95
ISBN:
9781415935439
Audience:
Adult
Language:
English
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