Inspector Wexford

When a man disappears, two wives search for their missing husband, and all the young women in Kingsmarkham seem to have a motive, Chief Inspector Wexford must untangle a complex web of secrets   Chief Inspector Wexford finds nothing unusual in the disappearance of Rodney Williams, a husband and father who likely has run off with another woman. But when the man's car and suitcase are discovered abandoned, can a body be far behind? Confounded by a string of violent stabbings, a strident schoolgirl clique, and the seemingly placid domesticity of his neighbors, Wexford's detective instincts must take flight in order to bring down a murderer.   With a keen wit and even sharper plot, Rendell weaves a suspenseful web of ever-tangling secrets, double-crosses, and double-lives.

Chief Inspector Wexford, injured in a car bombing, must rely on Detective Mike Burden to catch a killer in what appears to be a murder without motive   Chief Inspector Wexford couldn't know that the bundle of rags in the parking garage concealed a body-he'd just been doing a bit of light shopping, after all, not looking for dead housewives. Wexford won't be on the case for long; a car bomb sends him to the hospital, and Inspector Mike Burden must match wits with a would-be murderer. But just how close to the edge of madness must Burden go to catch a killer?   With rich characterization Rendell plumbs the depths of human character, revealing the secrets that lie hidden in the most ordinary lives.

The Veiled One: "Why on earth?" wonders London's chief inspector Reginald Wexford when a sixtyish housewife is found garroted in a shopping mall garage, her body concealed under a velvet shroud. Before he can find the answer, he's nearly killed himself-by a politically motivated car bombing targeting his activist daughter. With the inspector in the hospital, the case falls to his partner, Mike Burden. But when a strange mother and son are suspected, Burdon's trail leads him down a very twisted road. An Unkindness of Ravens: When a neighbor's husband vanishes, Chief Inspector Wexford suspects the cad most likely ran off with one of his girlfriends. However, there are a few nagging concerns, like the man's suspicious letter of resignation and his abandoned car. And is it just a fluke that his disappearance coincides with a rash of stabbings-all straight through the heart, all with male victims? Behind the seemingly placid domesticity of Wexford's Sussex neighbors, there's a growing web of tangling secrets, double lives, and triple-crosses.