A rigid man of fifty leads a solitary, apparently respectable life, as clerk and bookkeeper for a small business and part-time rent collector for his landlord. He has rented a flat in a London suburb for twenty years because deep in its cellar, unbeknownst to anyone else, is a mannequin that he periodically "strangles" in order to satisfy his homicidal urges. The figure's location in the cellar, the darkness, the furtiveness, all are essential for his satisfaction. But his hardly-won balance is threatened when a young man, healthy in mind and body, a doctoral candidate in psychology, becomes a roomer in the house. The danger the older man senses from the moment the new tenant appears is horribly realized for him when the young man finds the mannequin and uses it as the figure in the bonfire at the Guy Fawkes Night celebration he has organized for the local children. The respectable fifty-year-old now must go back to the streets to find flesh more yielding than a mannequin's...
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A feast of murders for Inspector Wexford to solve...From Doon With Death: There is nothing extraordinary about Margaret Parsons, a timid housewife in a quiet town - devoted to her garden, her kitchen, her husband. Except that Margaret Parsons is dead, brutally strangled, her body abandoned in the nearby woods. Who would kill someone with nothing to hide? Inspector Wexford is baffled - until he discovers Margaret's dark secret: a trove of rare books, each volume breathlessly inscribed by a passionate lover identified only as Doon. Some Lie and Some Die: In spite of dire predictions, the rock festival in Kingsmarkham seemed to be going off without a hitch, until a hideously disfigured body is discovered in a nearby quarry. And soon Wexford is investigating the links between a local girl gone bad and a charismatic singer who inspires an unwholesome devotion in his follower - as well as the aloof arrogance and ego of pop stardom. Shake Hands For Ever: Angela Hathall is found strangled in her bed but, shockingly, the murder of this meek, solitary woman sparks little emotion from her husband. Called in to investigate, Wexford's curiosity only deepens when he discovers that the Hathall household has been meticulously cleaned but for a single distinctive palm print. Wexford is increasingly frustrated by the seemingly pointless murder - no motive, no weapon and no suspect. Nothing except the unidentified print. But Wexford is convinced Hathall is hiding something. So when Wexford is taken off the case he decides to take matters into his own hands... A Sleeping Life: Rhoda Comfrey's death seemed unremarkable; the real mystery was her life. A wallet found in her handbag leads Wexford to Mr. Grenville West, a writer whose plots revel in the blood, thunder, and passion of dramas of old; whose current whereabouts are unclear; and whose curious secretary - plain Polly Flinders - provides the Inspector with more questions than answers. And when a second Grenville West comes to light, Wexford faces a dizzying array of possible scenarios - and suspects - behind the Comfrey murder. -
An Inspector Wexford omnibus. Kissing The Gunner's Daughter: Inspector Wexford No. XV. May 13 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: Inspector Wexford No. XVI. In the quiet Sussex country town of Kingsmarkham, the daughter of Nigerian physician Raymond Akande is missing. It's probably nothing, says Dr. Akande...But the days that follow prove the doctor dreadfully wrong. A young woman is found murdered - not Melanie, but the last person to have seen and spoken to her. A second woman's body is discovered - again, not Melanie's - but like her, young and black. A third woman turns up beaten and unconscious; like the others, she is of Nigerian origin. Wexford feels that Melanie is the victim of a serial killer with a horribly singular objective. Road Rage: Inspector Wexford No XVII. The woods outside of Kingsmarkham were lovely, dark, and deep. And much of them were about to vanish forever when the new highway cut through. While Chief Inspector Wexford privately despaired about the loss of his hiking grounds, local residents and outsiders were organising a massive protest. Some of them may have been desperate enough to kidnap five hostages and threaten to kill them. One hostage was Wexford's wife, Dora. Now Wexford and his team race to find the whereabouts of the kidnappers. Because someone has crossed from political belief to fanaticism, and as the first body is found, good intentions may become Wexford's personal path to hell. -
Inspector Wexford No. XXIV. A female vicar named Sarah Hussein is discovered strangled in her Kingsmarkham vicarage. Maxine, the gossipy cleaning woman who discovers her body, happens to also be in the employ of retired Chief Inspector Wexford and his wife. When Wexford's old deputy Detective Inspector Mike Burden calls on him, Wexford is intrigued by the unusual circumstances of the murder and leaps at the chance to tag along with the investigators. A single mother to a teenage girl, Hussein was a woman working in a male-dominated profession. Moreover, she was of mixed race and working to modernize the church. Could racism or sexism have played a factor in her murder? As Wexford searches the Vicar’s house, he sees a book on her bedside table with a letter serving as a bookmark. Without thinking, Wexford puts it into his pocket. He soon realizes he has made a grave error in removing a piece of valuable evidence from the scene without telling anybody. Yet what he finds inside begins to illuminate Hussein's murky past. Is there more to her than meets the eye?