After weeks of rain, Chief Inspector Wexford has just finished moving his books and furniture upstairs to protect them from the rising waters when the telephone rings. Two local teenagers and their babysitter have gone missing. Wexford isn’t particularly worried, since these things usually sort themselves out. But as hours stretch into days, he begins to suspect he has a kidnapping on his hands. The stakes get even higher when a member of the missing trio turns up dead in the woods nearby.
In the course of his investigation, Wexford must deal with a neighbor whose alibi is questionable, a religious cult and its sylvan rituals, someone close to the children’s family who nurses a terrible secret, and the babysitter’s ex-husband, who reveals the woman’s hidden penchant for violence.
In The Babes in the Wood, Ruth Rendell draws the reader into a riveting story that alternates between Chief Inspector Wexford’s domestic life—his worries about the security of his home and his daughter’s odd new boyfriend—and his determination to see through a kaleidoscope of lies and bring a murderer to justice.
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From the Back Cover:
“The Wexford books clearly display Rendell’s great mastery of storytelling at its best.” -- Sunday Telegraph
“Ruth Rendell has quite simply transformed the genre of crime writing. She deploys her peerless skill in blending the mundane, commonplace aspects of life with the potent, murky impulses of desire and greed, obsession and fear.” -- Anthony Clare, Sunday Times
“Ruth Rendell is not only the finest crime novelist there is, but one of the finest novelists writing in the English language.” -- Gerald Kaufman, Scotsman
About the Author:
Ruth Rendell has won numerous awards, including three Edgars and the Grand Master Award from Mystery Writers of America, and four Gold Daggers, one Silver Dagger, and a Cartier Diamond Dagger for outstanding contribution to the genre from Britain’s prestigious Crime Writers’ Association. She lives in London where she is a Life Peer in the House of Lords.
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- PublisherCrown
- Publication date2003
- ISBN 10 140004930X
- ISBN 13 9781400049301
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages336
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