Inspector Wexford searches for answers after an elderly woman is murdered in this “spellbinder” from a New York Times–bestselling author (Publishers Weekly).
When Chief Inspector Wexford enters the parking garage, the woman is already dead, slumped between two cars, concealed under a velvet shroud. The inspector doesn’t even notice her as he drives away. Only later, when he sees on the news that

...

Winner of multiple Edgar and Gold Dagger awards including the most prestigious Edgar of them all, the Grand Master, Ruth Rendell returns with a novel that pits Chief Inspector Wexford against a quite personal foe: the environmental terrorists who kidnap and threaten the lives of five hostages—including Wexford's own wife.
As Road Rage begins, Chief Inspector Wexford is walking through Framhurst Great Wood, just outside his beloved town of Kingsmarkham,...

Rodney Williams' disappearance seems typical to Chief Inspector Wexford—a simple case of a man running off with a woman other than his wife. But when another woman reports that her husband is missing, the case turns unpleasantly complex.

Rodney Williams' disappearance seems typical to Chief Inspector Wexford—a simple case of a man running off with a woman other than his wife. But when another woman reports that her husband is missing,

...

With several Edgar Awards and a CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement to her credit, Ruth Rendell is considered a master of the mystery genre. A companion piece to A Sight for Sore Eyes, The Vault finds Inspector Wexford getting pulled out of retirement to assist with a chilling case involving four bodies-three old and one new-found down an unused coal hole. ". an undoubted tour de force ."-Kirkus Reviews

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 lived, 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 was still

...

In Britain, a pedophile's house is burned by an angry mob when a girl disappears, the man having been recently released from jail. But Inspector Wexford is not swayed by the obvious and traces the disappearance to the girl's home and her abusive father.

Love and death are the only two sensational things that had ever happened to Margaret Parsons. The police knew all about her life and, by the look of it, it was very dull. Margaret Parsons had been a "good" woman--religious, old-fashioned, and respectable. But it was not her life that interested Chief Inspector Wexford, it was her death--passionate, violent, and unfathomable.

Anita Margolis had vanished. There was no body, no crime, and nothing more concrete than an anonymous letter. According to headquarters, it wasn't to be considered a murder inquiry at all. But Inspector Burden saw a pattern in the case. Not only had Anita been wealthy and flighty, she had been thoroughly immoral. She also kept her money in handbags, not in the bank. Detective Burden could see exactly what had happened.

When Scotland Yard Chief Howard Fortune returns from his vacation/work trip to China he finds mysterious deaths of people he met. Reg Wexford, included in the group, investigate after he returns to work.