Not in the Flesh: A Wexford Novel (Inspector Wexford, #21)

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. In addition to solving two long-ago murders, Chief Inspector Wexford is troubled by female genital mutilation in the local Somali community. The temptation would be to cut the subplot, but this abridgment retains the richness of the novel. Tim Curry's performance is splendid, even better than Daniel Gerroll's excellent performance of Rendell's End in Tears . Curry does a particularly marvelous job with the minor characters, such as the two wives-in-law of a local author, who cackle at the sexual innuendos of their own jokes. Then there's 84-year-old Irene McNeil, alternately supercilious and weepy. Throw in the obsessive Grimbles, on whose land the bodies were found; some migrant fruit-picking Roma; Wexford's family; Somali immigrants; and Curry somehow sounds like a full-cast audio. If only Wexford sounded less like his assistant Burden, the performance would be absolutely perfect. A Crown hardcover (reviewed online). (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Rendell, winner of three Edgar Awards, has two primary approaches in her acclaimed crime fiction: edgy novels of psychological suspense and more traditional police procedurals starring Chief Inspector Wexford of Kingsmarkham, Sussex. Where Rendell’s suspense can leave the reader deliciously unsettled, the Wexford novels place the reader on solid, sometimes overly familiar, ground. For example, Rendell overrelies on the old “see who cracks when the police visit” convention, using the questioning of witnesses/suspects in their homes as a launch pad for scathing comments on home decor and the occupants’ physical attributes—after the fourth or fifth visit, the formula starts to creak. But Rendell works feverishly within the form to deliver some surprises, starting here with the discovery of a human hand by a dog trained to hunt for truffles in the woods. The remains, according to the pathologist, have been buried for almost a decade. Wexford centers his investigation on the owners of the land where the hand was found, a contentious couple, greatly caught up in land disputes. When a second body is found in a basement wood pile, the action takes off. Rendell keeps the suspense going nicely, even if Wexford remains something of a cardboard character, and the procedure is mostly rooted in the past. For devoted fans of the series, of whom there are many, this will be much anticipated and, as always, satisfying; for others, only so-so. --Connie Fletcher Fiction,General,Police Procedural,Police,Mystery & Detective,England,Mystery fiction,Traditional British,Sussex,Police - England - Sussex,Sussex (England),Wexford; Inspector (Fictitious character)

a New Chief Inspector Wexford Mystery From The Author Who Time Magazine Has Called The Best Mystery Writer In The English-speaking World.

when The Truffle-hunting Dog Starts To Dig Furiously, His Master's First Reaction Is Delight At The Size Of The Clump The Dog Has Unearthed: At The Going Rate, This One Truffle Might Be Worth Several Hundred Pounds. Then The Dirt Falls Away To Reveal Not A Precious Mushroom But The Bones And Tendons Of What Is Clearly A Human Hand.

in Not In The Flesh, Chief Inspector Wexford Tries To Piece Together Events That Took Place Eleven Years Earlier, A Time When Someone Was Secretly Interred In A Secluded Patch Of English Countryside. Now Wexford And His Team Will Need To Interrogate Everyone Who Lives Nearby To See If They Can Turn Up A Match For The Dead Man Among The Eighty-five People In This Part Of England Who Have Disappeared Over The Past Decade. Then, When A Second Body Is Discovered Nearby, Wexford Experiences A Feeling That's Become ...

the Barnes & Noble Review

veteran Of 21 Novels, Chief Inspector Wexford Entered The World In 1964's from Doon With Death, ruth Rendell's Very First Book. Since Then He Has Seen It All: Crimes Of Passion, Greed, Neglect, Convenience, And Madness; Lives Extinguished And Shattered; His Own Wife Kidnapped. He Has Borne Up Under It, And Yet There Are Things Out There Undermining His Spirit: Being Called Guv Instead Of Sir Is One. Coping With The Internet And, Indeed, Computers In General, And Having To Measure The World In Centimeters Instead Of Inches Are Some More. He Also Doesn't Like Calling People He Doesn't Know By Their Given Names -- And He Doesn't Like It That No One Knows What A Given Name Is Any More. Men's Failure To Wear Neckties And The Disappearance Of Putting Milk In Tea Make Him Melancholy. And He Simply Loathes The Expression Hi, How're You? (when This Vacuous Greeting Started To Become Commonplace, Wexford Resolved Not To Answer It In Any Circumstances.) The Great Man's Inner Grousing On The Decline Of Everything Has Grown So Routine In Recent Years That I Think We Can Call Him A Codger -- Though Anyone Would Rather Spend Time With Him If The Alternative Were The Company Of His Ferociously Up-to-date, Politically Correct Sidekick, Detective Sergeant Hannah Goldsmith.

A new Chief Inspector Wexford mystery from the author who Time magazine has called "the best mystery writer in the English-speaking world." When the truffle-hunting dog starts to dig furiously, his master's first reaction is delight at the size of the clump the dog has unearthed: at the going rate, this one truffle might be worth several hundred pounds. Then the dirt falls away to reveal not a precious mushroom but the bones and tendons of what is clearly a human hand.In Not in the Flesh, Chief Inspector Wexford tries to piece together events that took place eleven years earlier, a time when someone was secretly interred in a secluded patch of English countryside. Now Wexford and his team will need to interrogate everyone who lives nearby to see if they can turn up a match for the dead man among the eighty-five people in this part of England who have disappeared over the past decade. Then, when a second body is discovered nearby, Wexford experiences a feeling that's become a rarity for the veteran policeman: surprise.As Wexford painstakingly moves to resolve these multiple mysteries, long-buried secrets are brought to daylight, and Ruth Rendell once again proves why she has been hailed as our greatest living mystery writer.From the Hardcover edition. Searching for truffles in a wood, a man and his dog unearth something less savoury-a human hand. The body, as Chief Inspector Wexford is informed later, has lain buried for ten years or so, wrapped in a purple cotton shroud. The post mortem cannot reveal the precise cause of death. The only clue is a crack in one of the dead man's ribs. Although the police database covers a relatively short period of time, it stores a long list of Missing Persons. So Wexford knows he is going to have a job on his hands to identify the corpse. And then, only about twenty yards away from the woodland burial site, in the cellar of a disused cottage, another body is discovered. The detection skills of Wexford, Burden, and the other investigating officers of the Kingsmarkham Police Force, are tested to the utmost to see if the murders are connected and to track down whoever is responsible. From the award-winning author and grand dame of British crime fiction (The Gazette) comes the chilling new novel featuring Chief Inspector Wexford and the Kingsmarkham Police Force.