Inspector Wexford

24 primary works • 25 total works

From Doon With Death

by Ruth Rendell

Published 11 June 1970

Readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will love this gripping crime thriller full of twists and turns from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. This edition has an introduction from Ian Rankin and an afterword by the author.

'If crime fiction is currently in rude good health, its practitioners striving to better the craft and keep it fresh, vibrant and relevant, this is in no small part thanks to Ruth Rendell.' -- IAN RANKIN
'A classic mystery, as true to life now as it was half a century ago' - MAIL ONLINE
'Ruth Rendell's mesmerising capacity to shock, chill and disturb is unmatched' - THE TIMES
'This is not just a crime novel, it is a wonderfully written novel with crime in it.' -- ***** Reader review
'A real page turner.' -- ***** Reader review

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AN ORDINARY LIFE. AN EXTRAORDINARY DEATH.

The trampled grass led to the body of Margaret Parsons.

With no useful clues and a victim known only for her mundane life, Chief Inspector Wexford is baffled until he discovers Margaret's dark secret - a collection of rare books, each inscribed from a secret lover and signed only as 'Doon'.

Who is Doon? And could the answer hold the key to Wexford solving his first case?

A New Lease Of Death

by Ruth Rendell

Published February 1969

Readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will love this mesmerising and bone-chilling thriller from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. You'll be hooked from page one!

'If crime fiction is currently in rude good health, its practitioners striving to better the craft and keep it fresh, vibrant and relevant, this is in no small part thanks to Ruth Rendell.' -- Ian Rankin
'One of the best novelists writing today' - PD James
'[Ruth Rendell has a] peerless skill in blending the mundane, commonplace aspects of life with the potent murky impulses of desire and greed, obsession and fear' - Sunday Times
'As usual, brilliant, yes murder but also a lot more, guilt, jealousy and a surprise at the end!!' -- ***** Reader review
'The writing is masterful and the plot excellent' -- ***** Reader review
'Relished every page' -- ***** Reader review

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SOME CASES ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO BURY.

It's impossible to forget the violent bludgeoning to death of an elderly lady in her home. Even more so when it's your first murder case.

Wexford believed he'd solved Mrs Primero's murder fifteen years ago. It was no real mystery. Everyone knew Painter, her odd-job man, had done it. There had never been any doubt in anyone's mind. Until now...

Henry Archery's son is engaged to Painter's daughter. Only Archery can't let the past remain buried. He wants to prove Wexford wrong...

When he starts probing the lives of the witnesses questioned all those years ago, he stirs up more than old ghosts.

Wexford's first case was From Doon with Death. Have you read it? His work continues in Wolf to the Slaughter.

Wolf To The Slaughter

by Ruth Rendell

Published 11 June 1970

Anita Margolis has vanished. There was no body, no crime - nothing more concrete than an anonymous letter and the intriguing name of Smith. According to headquarters, it wasn't to be considered a murder enquiry at all. Inspector Burden had no trouble in seeing a pattern in the Margolis case. Not only had Anita been wealthy and flighty, she had been thoroughly immoral as well. Decent women had clean, tidy homes, and were either married or had jobs, or both. They didn't live with eccentric artist brothers, or bring lovers home in the afternoon. They also knew enough to keep their money in the bank, not in their handbags. Burden could see exactly what had happened to Anita Margolis. Chief Inspector Wexford, however, had other ideas-

The Best Man To Die

by Ruth Rendell

Published 22 April 1971

A Detective Chief Inspector Wexford novel. The fatal car accident involving the stockbroker Fanshawe couldn't possibly be connected with the murder of a cocky little lorry driver. But was it a coincidence that the latter died the day after Mrs Fanshawe regained consciousness?

A Guilty Thing Surprised

by Ruth Rendell

Published 23 March 1972

The fifth book to feature the classic crime-solving detective, Chief Inspector Wexford. The discovery of Elizabeth Nightingale's broken body in the woods near her home could not have come as a bigger shock. Called in to investiage, Chief Inspector Wexford quickly determines that the Nightingales were considered the perfect couple - wealthy, attractive and without an enemy in the world. However, someone must have been alone with Elizabeth that night in the woods. Someone who hated - or perhaps loved - her enough to beat her to death. The case seems straightforward. But Wexford soon learn that beneath the placid surface of the Nightingales' lives lie undercurrents and secrets no one ever suspected.

No More Dying Then

by Ruth Rendell

Published 1 January 1984

An Inspector Wexford mystery. On a stormy February afternoon, little Stella Rivers disappears and is never seen again. Then, on a warm October day, five-year-old John Lawrence fails to come home, and evil, mad, taunting letters begin, which make the worst, unspoken imaginings a brutal reality.

Murder Being Once Done

by Ruth Rendell

Published 3 October 1991

A Chief Inspector Wexford mystery, in which a girl with no name, no possessins and no past, is found murdered in a vast, overgrown London cemetery. Wexford is in the capital for a rest on doctor's orders, but is drawn into the investigation when his nephew is given charge of the case.

Some Lie And Some Die

by Ruth Rendell

Published 3 October 1991

Fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will devour this captivating and compelling thriller from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. Mesmerically gripping, it highlights that fame can come at a price - and that that price can be lethal.

'The most brilliant mystery novelist of our time' -- Patricia Cornwell
'[Wexford] has become an old friend who gets better with age' -- Herald
'Had me gripped from the start' -- ***** Reader review
'Brilliant' -- ***** Reader review
'Rendell is a master of psychological suspense' -- ***** Reader review

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When the body of a brutally beaten girl is found in a quarry during a hedonistic hippy festival near Kingsmarkham, Wexford is first on the scene. The victim's face has been pulped by the back-end of a bottle, but who, in this atmosphere of peace and love, could be capable of such violence?

The body is that of local girl turned stripper Dawn Stonor, but it is the unlikely link between this ill-fated girl and the mysterious folk-singer Zeno Vedast that piques Wexford's interest.

Through an intricate web of lies and deceit, Wexford uncovers a history of love and hate that began years earlier. In all his years of police work, he has never been faced with a crime of such desperate passion...

Shake Hands Forever

by Ruth Rendell

Published November 1978

The ninth book to feature the classic crime-solving Detective Chief Inspector Wexford. Most people would have screamed. Mrs Hathall made no sound. She had seen death many times before, but she had never before seen a death by violence. Heavily, she plodded across the room and descended the stairs to where her son waited. 'There's been an accident,' she said. 'Your wife's dead.' Chief Inspector Wexford could discover no motive, no reason, no suspect - al he had were his own intuitive suspicions. Probably he was reading meaning where there was none; probably Angela Hathall really had picked up a stranger, and that stranger had killed her. But why such doubt? Was Wexford becoming cynical and untrusting - or was this simply one of the most ingenious crimes he had ever tackled?

A Sleeping Life

by Ruth Rendell

Published 1 October 1978

The body found under the hedge was that of a middle-aged woman, biggish and gaunt. There was nothing to give Detective Chief Inspector Wexford her address, her occupation or even her identity - let alone any clues which might lead to her killer.

Put On By Cunning

by Ruth Rendell

Published 1 January 1981

Sir Manuel Carmargue, one of the greatest flautists of his time, was dead. Misadventure. An old man, ankle-deep in snow, he lost his foothold in the dark, slipping into the water to be trapped under a lid of ice. Only a glove remained to point to where he lay, one of its fingers rising out of the drifts. There's nothing Chief Inspector Wexford likes better than an open-and-shut case. They're so restful. And yet there are one or two niggling doubts - and the disturbing return of Carmargue's daughter, now a considerable heiress, after an absence of nineteen years. Is Wexford going to listen to that nagging inner voice of his? And if he does, what exactly does he plan to do?

The Speaker Of Mandarin

by Ruth Rendell

Published 1 August 1983

Readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will love this gripping crime thriller full of twists and turns from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell.

'The most brilliant mystery writer' -- Patricia Cornwell
'Probably the greatest crime writer in the world' -- Ian Rankin
'Totally gripping with superb twist at the end!' -- ***** Reader review
'Fascinating' -- ***** Reader review
'Superb on all counts' -- ***** Reader review
'Keeps the reader rooted to the spot and in the dark till the very end' -- ***** Reader review
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Wherever Reggie Wexford goes, death and intrigue are close on his heels. Having just returned from a once-in-a-lifetime holiday in China, Wexford finds himself haunted by memories of the old woman with bound feet who mysteriously followed him from one city to the next and the man who tragically drowned.

Now, back in England, he finds himself investigating the murder of a fellow tourist. Knowing that the clue to these three mysteries lies in the East, Wexford turns his investigative skills to that place of unfathomable and sinister depths...

An Unkindness Of Ravens

by Ruth Rendell

Published April 1986

Fatalities and feminism combine in this captivating mystery from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. Perfect for readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon.

'A brilliant reshuffling of a pack of clues . . . Rendell at her richest' -- Sunday Times
'Well-plotted . . . baffling . . . Still the tops' -- Sunday Telegraph
'A climax as chilling and unexpected as any she's perpetrated before' -- The Times
'Another great novel from this author; she never disappoints' -- ***** Reader review
'Another Rendell worth staying up late reading...' -- ***** Reader review
'Rendell rules!' -- ***** Reader review
'Very hard to put down once you start' -- ***** Reader review
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The raven: not a particularly predatory bird, but far from soft and submissive, adopted as the symbol of a militant feminist group...

Detective Chief Inspector Wexford thought he was merely doing a neighbourly good deed when he agreed to talk to Joy Williams about her missing husband. He certainly didn't expect to be investigating a most unusual homicide.

Rodney Williams was neither handsome nor wealthy - but he had an unerring eye for a pretty girl and when he disappeared and two other men were later attacked by a young woman, Wexford couldn't help wondering if there was a connection. If there wasn't, where was Rodney Williams and why had he vanished? He had committed no crime - apart from telling his wife the occasional lie...

The Veiled One

by Ruth Rendell

Published 21 April 1988

Readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will love this mesmerising and bone-chilling thriller from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. You'll be hooked from page one!

'As sharp, observant and intelligent as ever' -- Sunday Express
'A dark, gripping novel permeated with unease and psychological twists . . . Certain to send a shiver down your spine' -- Today
'I LOVED IT' -- ***** Reader review
'Keeps you guessing' -- ***** Reader review
'I couldn't put it down!!' -- ***** Reader review
'Rendell at her best' -- ***** Reader review
'Intricate jewel of a puzzle' -- ***** Reader review
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Concealed by a shroud of dirty brown velvet, looking like a heap of rags, the woman's dead body lay between a silver Escort and a dark-blue Lancia.

In the desolate shopping centre car park, Wexford has been too preoccupied to notice anything out of the ordinary - only the teenage girl in the red car, driving past him rather too fast. It was Burden who called him at home with the grim news later that evening: the woman had been attacked from behind, perhaps with a thin length of wire.

But before Wexford can delve any deeper into this curious murder, he, too, faces death... Can Burden solve this mysterious crime without the help of his worldly Chief Inspector?

Kissing The Gunner's Daughter

by Ruth Rendell

Published 27 January 1992

Completely captivating, this is a spine-tingling page-turner of a mystery from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. Perfect for fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon.

'The most brilliant mystery novelist' -- Patricia Cornwell
'Psychologically acute and extremely disturbing, Ruth Rendell's work is outstanding' -- The Times
'Stark, edgy and punchy' -- ***** Reader review
'This book kept me awake for nights on end!' -- ***** Reader review
'I just could not put it down' -- ***** Reader review
'Smashing' -- ***** Reader review
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The thirteenth of May is famously the unluckiest day of the year. Sergeant Caleb Martin of Kingsmarkham CID had no idea just how terminally unlucky it would prove, as he embarked upon his last day on earth...

Ten months later, Wexford is confronted with a murder scene of horrific brutality. At first the bloodbath at Tancred House looks like the desperate work of a burglar panicked into murder. The sole survivor of the massacre, seventeen-year-old Daisy Flory, remembers the events imperfectly, and her confused account of the fatal night seems to confirm this theory.

But more and more, Chief Inspector Wexford is convinced that the crime lies closer to home, and that it has sinister links to the murder of Sergeant Martin...

Simisola

by Ruth Rendell

Published 29 September 1994

This fast-paced, pulse-pounding thriller from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell is perfect for fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon. With its climax of stunning unexpectedness, you'll be gripped to the very last page...

'The Wexford books clearly display Rendell's great mastery of storytelling at its best' -- Sunday Telegraph
'Rendell's detective fiction stands almost alone as a chronicle of the dark side of modern life...' -- Independent
'Marvellous. Kept me guessing to the end' -- ***** Reader review
'Gripping from start to end' -- ***** Reader review
'What a wonderful whodunnit!' -- ***** Reader review
'Engrossing' -- ***** Reader review
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When a young, black woman goes missing in Kingsmarkham, Wexford must respond to a test not only of his powers of deduction, but of his basic beliefs and prejudices.

Only eighteen black people live in Kingsmarkham. One of them is Wexford's new doctor, Raymond Akande. When the doctor's daughter, Melanie, goes missing, the Chief Inspector takes more than just a professional interest in the case.

Melanie, just down from university but unable to find a job, disappeared somewhere between the Benefit Office and the bus stop. Or at least no one saw her get on the bus when it came...

When the body of a young black woman is discovered, Wexford must overcome his underlying prejudices to allow his investigative skills to succeed.

Road Rage

by Ruth Rendell

Published 12 December 1991

A by-pass is planned in Kingsmarkham, that will destroy its peace and the natural habitat forever. Dora Wexford joins the protest movement, but Wexford must be more circumspect. Trouble is expected. However, before the protestors make their presence felt, the badly decomposed body of a young woman is discovered. Burden believes he knows the identity of the murderer, but Wexford is not convinced. Before the murder inquiry can proceed much further a number of people disappear - including Dora Wexford - leaving the Chief Inspector is both puzzled and bereft. Having also just become a grandfather, he cannot come to terms with the most powerful, familiar passions until the case is resolved.

Harm Done

by Ruth Rendell

Published 1 January 1999

On the day Lizzie came back from the dead, the police and her family and neighbours had already begun to search for her body. She had been missing for three days. A short while later, another young woman disappears, just as a convicted paedophile is released back into the community. The residents of the Muriel Campden Estate are up in arms, and even prepared to take the law into their own hands. . . . .

The Babes In The Wood

by Ruth Rendell

Published 7 November 2002

The nineteenth book to feature the classic crime-solving detective, Chief Inspector Wexford.

'A woman phoned to say she and her husband went to Paris for the weekend, leaving their children with a - well, teen-sitter, I suppose, got back last night to find the lot gone and naturally she assumes they've all drowned.'

There hadn't been anything like this kind of rain in living memory. The River Brede had burst its banks, and not a single house in the valley had escaped flooding. Even where Wexford lives, higher up in Kingsmarkham, the waters had nearly reached the mulberry tree in his once immaculate garden. The Subaqua Task Force could find no trace of Giles and Sophie Dade, let alone the woman who was keeping them company, Joanna Troy. But Mrs Dade is convinced her children are dead.

As he embarks upon this mysterious investigation, Wexford is forced to question many of his core assumptions about society, even about his own family...

End in Tears

by Ruth Rendell

Published 20 October 2005

The twentieth book to feature the classic crime-solving detective, Chief Inspector Wexford. A lump of concrete dropped deliberately from a little stone bridge over a relatively unfrequented road kills the wrong person. The young woman in the car behind is spared. But only for a while...A few weeks later, George Marshalson lives every father's worst nightmare: he discovers the murdered body of his eighteen-year-old daughter on the side of the road. As a man with a strained father-daughter relationship himself, Wexford must struggle to keep his professional life as a detective separate from his personal life as husband and father. Particularly when a second teenage girl is murdered - a victim unquestionably linked to the first - and another family is shattered...