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Inspector Wexford #6
No More Dying Then
What kind of a person would kidnap two children?
That is the question that haunts Wexford when a five-year-old boy and a twelve-year-old girl disappear from the village of Kingsmarkham. When a child's body turns up at an abandoned country home one search turns into a murder investigation and the other turns into a race against time. Filled with pathos and terror, passion, bitterness, and loss, No More Dying Then is Rendell at her most chillingly astute.
With her Inspector Wexford novels, Ruth Rendell, winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award, has added layers of depth, realism and unease to the classic English mystery. For the canny, tireless, and unflappable policeman is an unblinking observer of human nature, whose study has taught him that under certain circumstances the most unlikely people are capable of the most appalling crimes.
That is the question that haunts Wexford when a five-year-old boy and a twelve-year-old girl disappear from the village of Kingsmarkham. When a child's body turns up at an abandoned country home one search turns into a murder investigation and the other turns into a race against time. Filled with pathos and terror, passion, bitterness, and loss, No More Dying Then is Rendell at her most chillingly astute.
With her Inspector Wexford novels, Ruth Rendell, winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award, has added layers of depth, realism and unease to the classic English mystery. For the canny, tireless, and unflappable policeman is an unblinking observer of human nature, whose study has taught him that under certain circumstances the most unlikely people are capable of the most appalling crimes.
203 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
261 people are currently reading
872 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Rendell
473 books1,634 followersA.K.A. Barbara Vine
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, who also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, was an acclaimed English crime writer, known for her many psychological thrillers and murder mysteries and above all for Inspector Wexford.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 189 reviews
February 17, 2025
'No More Dying Then' is a quite gripping mystery story with an unpredictable ending. There is one drawback, in my opinion - the author's attempt to squeeze a melodramatic plotline in a detective story. Especially when a police officer is the one having a wrong affair with the wrong woman at the wrong time.
October 11, 2022
I am in the mood to read some British mystery series and who better than Ruth Rendell and the Wexford books. I always enjoy her books and this, one of her early works, is no exception.
She approaches the story a bit differently from her later books as Chief Inspector Wexford, usually the major character, is not the focus, at least not for the first half of the book. Instead she concentrates on Wexford's second-in-command, Mike Burden. Burden's young wife has died unexpectedly, leaving two children, and Burden is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He cannot conquer his grief and his job and family are suffering.
A young boy goes missing and there seem to be no clues. Another child had also gone missing a year earlier and has not been found.Are these incidents related? Burden is assigned to the case but is less than effective. At this point, Wexford steps in to assist him, both with the case and his personal problems. Then something happens which adds depth to the story and changes everything...........its a great twist.
Another winner from Rendell, although the ending is a bit of a stretch. Recommended.
She approaches the story a bit differently from her later books as Chief Inspector Wexford, usually the major character, is not the focus, at least not for the first half of the book. Instead she concentrates on Wexford's second-in-command, Mike Burden. Burden's young wife has died unexpectedly, leaving two children, and Burden is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He cannot conquer his grief and his job and family are suffering.
A young boy goes missing and there seem to be no clues. Another child had also gone missing a year earlier and has not been found.Are these incidents related? Burden is assigned to the case but is less than effective. At this point, Wexford steps in to assist him, both with the case and his personal problems. Then something happens which adds depth to the story and changes everything...........its a great twist.
Another winner from Rendell, although the ending is a bit of a stretch. Recommended.
October 31, 2020
Rendell is in full force here, offering her trademark insightful reflections on a wide variety of characters, including, this time, Wexford’s colleague Mike Burden.
I enjoyed the plot, in which her many red herrings swim back and forth between two missing child cases months apart. Despite the fact that I was struggling with the YouTube app (not, IMO, a user-friendly interface but the only audio option I could find), I stayed engaged through the end.
For the first time in the series (to my recollection) there are some interesting women in No More Dying Then! Although I found one of them to be somewhat unbelievable, others were fully realized adults. Definitely a move in the right direction.
It has been so many years since I originally read this series that each book I now revisit as part of a group read is a refreshing experience. So glad I'm participating!
I enjoyed the plot, in which her many red herrings swim back and forth between two missing child cases months apart. Despite the fact that I was struggling with the YouTube app (not, IMO, a user-friendly interface but the only audio option I could find), I stayed engaged through the end.
For the first time in the series (to my recollection) there are some interesting women in No More Dying Then! Although I found one of them to be somewhat unbelievable, others were fully realized adults. Definitely a move in the right direction.
It has been so many years since I originally read this series that each book I now revisit as part of a group read is a refreshing experience. So glad I'm participating!
December 15, 2022
SPOILERS AHEAD
This is the sixth in the Wexford series. In this outing two children have disappeared. An eleven year old girl where Wexford suspects her stepfather the lazy spoilt Ivor Swan. Then a five year old boy disappears while playing with friends.
This outings focus is on Burden whose wife recently died of cancer. He is using his sister in law as a slave to keep his house tidy and look after his children who he mostly ignores. He is also sexually frustrated missing his wife. Then he meets Gemma the mother whose child is missing. Bizarrely they embark on an affair to the detriment of his work in Wexford being both sympathetic and angry with Burden.
Although Burden does find the missing girls body where Ivor becomes more suspect. Wexford also discovers that when Ivor was 19 he let a girl drown although was cleared of murder. Wexford interviews the parents of the dead girl the Scott’s and Ivor’s friend who was with him.
The reveal that it is the elderly Mr Scott who murdered the girl as an unpremeditated murder thinking Ivor as the girls father. He later suffers a stroke.
Gemma and Burden go away for the weekend at the seaside where Gemma recognises her son on the beach. It turns out her ex-husbands elderly girlfriend had taken her son for herself. Gemma forgives her and goes to live with her in London and breaks up with Mike Burden.
Rendell does a good job of the psychological motives of people. However, for me the motives of the murderer and kidnapper were a bit too far fetched. Mr Scott killing an innocent girl for revenge of his own daughters death was stretching credulity as was the kidnapper an elderly spurned girlfriend kidnapping the child.
This is the sixth in the Wexford series. In this outing two children have disappeared. An eleven year old girl where Wexford suspects her stepfather the lazy spoilt Ivor Swan. Then a five year old boy disappears while playing with friends.
This outings focus is on Burden whose wife recently died of cancer. He is using his sister in law as a slave to keep his house tidy and look after his children who he mostly ignores. He is also sexually frustrated missing his wife. Then he meets Gemma the mother whose child is missing. Bizarrely they embark on an affair to the detriment of his work in Wexford being both sympathetic and angry with Burden.
Although Burden does find the missing girls body where Ivor becomes more suspect. Wexford also discovers that when Ivor was 19 he let a girl drown although was cleared of murder. Wexford interviews the parents of the dead girl the Scott’s and Ivor’s friend who was with him.
The reveal that it is the elderly Mr Scott who murdered the girl as an unpremeditated murder thinking Ivor as the girls father. He later suffers a stroke.
Gemma and Burden go away for the weekend at the seaside where Gemma recognises her son on the beach. It turns out her ex-husbands elderly girlfriend had taken her son for herself. Gemma forgives her and goes to live with her in London and breaks up with Mike Burden.
Rendell does a good job of the psychological motives of people. However, for me the motives of the murderer and kidnapper were a bit too far fetched. Mr Scott killing an innocent girl for revenge of his own daughters death was stretching credulity as was the kidnapper an elderly spurned girlfriend kidnapping the child.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2023
Kidnapped or Murdered?
Review of the Arrow Books/Cornerstone Digital Kindle eBook edition (2010) of the original Hutchinson hardcover (1971)
This continues my 2023 binge read / re-read of Ruth Rendell's (aka Barbara Vine) novels and it is the 6th in the Inspector Wexford series. Part of the joy with Wexford is the number of literary quotes and allusions which Rendell inserts into the text, but which are usually not explained. The above quote is an exception as it hints that the name "Mr. Casaubon" is associated with writer George Eliot. We can share and enjoy Wexford's surprise that the small time crooks he meets would have any knowledge of the Middlemarch novel.
Cover image for the original Hutchinson hardcover edition from 1971. Image sourced from Wikipedia.
No More Dying Then is otherwise a novel about a child abduction which hints back to an earlier disappearance and possible murder of another child in the same vicinity. Wexford's assistant Mike Burden is still mourning the loss of his wife and is distracted from his police duties. An extensive subplot involves him becoming involved with the divorced mother of the 2nd abducted child and the reader will become concerned that the woman may in fact be a suspect. The tension increases when the body of the first child is found even while the second is still missing. It is all wrapped up with a twist ending.
Another favourite quote from the book:
Trivia and Links
No More Dying Then was adapted for television as part of the Ruth Rendell / Inspector Wexford Mysteries TV series (1987-2000) as Season 3 Episodes 1 to 3 in 1989 with actor George Baker as Inspector Wexford. You can watch the entire 3 episodes on YouTube
Review of the Arrow Books/Cornerstone Digital Kindle eBook edition (2010) of the original Hutchinson hardcover (1971)
Wexford gave a tiny sigh, the outward and audible sign of an inward and outraged scream. ‘I don’t believe it,’ he said thinly. ‘Just enlighten me as to which one of you two intellectuals is acquainted with George Eliot.’ Far from living up to Monkey’s image of a man intimidated by the police, Mr Casaubon had brightened as soon as Wexford spoke and now rejoined in thick hideous cockney, ‘I see him once. Strangeways it was, 1929. They done him for a big bullion job.’ ‘I fear,’ Wexford said distantly, ‘that we cannot be thinking of the same person. - Inspector Wexford reacts upon being introduced to blackmailer 'Mr. Casaubon' by small-time crook Monkey Matthews. Mr. Casaubon is otherwise the name of a character in George Eliot’s (penname of Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880)) novel Middlemarch.
This continues my 2023 binge read / re-read of Ruth Rendell's (aka Barbara Vine) novels and it is the 6th in the Inspector Wexford series. Part of the joy with Wexford is the number of literary quotes and allusions which Rendell inserts into the text, but which are usually not explained. The above quote is an exception as it hints that the name "Mr. Casaubon" is associated with writer George Eliot. We can share and enjoy Wexford's surprise that the small time crooks he meets would have any knowledge of the Middlemarch novel.
Cover image for the original Hutchinson hardcover edition from 1971. Image sourced from Wikipedia.
No More Dying Then is otherwise a novel about a child abduction which hints back to an earlier disappearance and possible murder of another child in the same vicinity. Wexford's assistant Mike Burden is still mourning the loss of his wife and is distracted from his police duties. An extensive subplot involves him becoming involved with the divorced mother of the 2nd abducted child and the reader will become concerned that the woman may in fact be a suspect. The tension increases when the body of the first child is found even while the second is still missing. It is all wrapped up with a twist ending.
Another favourite quote from the book:
Night is a time for conjecture, dreams, mad conclusions; morning a time for action.
Trivia and Links
No More Dying Then was adapted for television as part of the Ruth Rendell / Inspector Wexford Mysteries TV series (1987-2000) as Season 3 Episodes 1 to 3 in 1989 with actor George Baker as Inspector Wexford. You can watch the entire 3 episodes on YouTube
February 12, 2018
The most difficult, uncharacteristic Wexford novel thus far doesn't necessarily have the most successful mystery, but its risky and ambitious character work makes up for that.
Mike Burden's beloved wife has died unexpectedly before the start of this novel, and Burden, usually a buttoned-up, polite, tirelessly engaged man, has responded to this situation by becoming a total asshole. That's a decision of Rendell's that I'm impressed with, because she really doesn't stint on how angrily and harmfully Burden responds to his grief. Often, mystery series protagonists have fake flaws--they're alcoholics who never hurt or disappoint anyone; they have serial divorces in their past but somehow are always faithful, understanding partners in the present--and I like that Burden is allowed to behave in a genuinely ugly manner here. He's neglectful of his children, he takes advantage of his sister-in-law's help, he's rude and aggressive, he's fiercely jealous of attention, and, to top it all off, Rendell is explicit that part of his pain, at this point--about ten months after his wife's death--isn't just grief. Rather, the "prudish" Burden had had an extremely healthy, enthusiastic sex life within his marriage, and now he's going out of his mind with erotic frustration. It is, in short, either the best or the worst time for him to run into the attractive, Bohemian mother of a missing boy.
A missing boy is in fact what we have here, in a case that everyone finds eerily similar to the recent unsolved disappearance of a young girl. Wexford remains suspicious of the girl's stepfather, a charming, drift-through-life, carelessly selfish never-do-well named Swan, and that suspicion leads him back into the past to the death of a third child. The case is well-balanced, with Wexford's investigation proceeding methodically while Burden's is feverish and slipshod but occasionally almost hauntingly productive. It's like if someone mashed-up Tana French's mental-breakdown mystery novel In the Woods with something much more down-to-earth. The contrast works, especially since Rendell has spent several volumes now building up the laidback warmth between Wexford and Burden, earning both the blow-up and the reconciliation they have here:
The room was very still. Soon I must lift my head, Burden thought, and take away my hands and see his derision. He didn't move except to press his fingers harder against his eyes. Then he felt Wexford's heavy hand on his shoulder.
"Mike, my dear old friend..."
It's Rendell's commitment to how bad things can get that makes the forgiveness of them, both here in and with Mike's sister-in-law, land. Even though the mysteries here are good, the heart of this novel is the worst time of a good man's life.
Mike Burden's beloved wife has died unexpectedly before the start of this novel, and Burden, usually a buttoned-up, polite, tirelessly engaged man, has responded to this situation by becoming a total asshole. That's a decision of Rendell's that I'm impressed with, because she really doesn't stint on how angrily and harmfully Burden responds to his grief. Often, mystery series protagonists have fake flaws--they're alcoholics who never hurt or disappoint anyone; they have serial divorces in their past but somehow are always faithful, understanding partners in the present--and I like that Burden is allowed to behave in a genuinely ugly manner here. He's neglectful of his children, he takes advantage of his sister-in-law's help, he's rude and aggressive, he's fiercely jealous of attention, and, to top it all off, Rendell is explicit that part of his pain, at this point--about ten months after his wife's death--isn't just grief. Rather, the "prudish" Burden had had an extremely healthy, enthusiastic sex life within his marriage, and now he's going out of his mind with erotic frustration. It is, in short, either the best or the worst time for him to run into the attractive, Bohemian mother of a missing boy.
A missing boy is in fact what we have here, in a case that everyone finds eerily similar to the recent unsolved disappearance of a young girl. Wexford remains suspicious of the girl's stepfather, a charming, drift-through-life, carelessly selfish never-do-well named Swan, and that suspicion leads him back into the past to the death of a third child. The case is well-balanced, with Wexford's investigation proceeding methodically while Burden's is feverish and slipshod but occasionally almost hauntingly productive. It's like if someone mashed-up Tana French's mental-breakdown mystery novel In the Woods with something much more down-to-earth. The contrast works, especially since Rendell has spent several volumes now building up the laidback warmth between Wexford and Burden, earning both the blow-up and the reconciliation they have here:
The room was very still. Soon I must lift my head, Burden thought, and take away my hands and see his derision. He didn't move except to press his fingers harder against his eyes. Then he felt Wexford's heavy hand on his shoulder.
"Mike, my dear old friend..."
It's Rendell's commitment to how bad things can get that makes the forgiveness of them, both here in and with Mike's sister-in-law, land. Even though the mysteries here are good, the heart of this novel is the worst time of a good man's life.
September 25, 2020
An interesting story here, but one of my least favorite of Rendell's thus far. The search for a missing five-year-old boy renews efforts to find an eleven-year-old girl who'd gone missing over a year ago from a rural village.
Chief Inspector Wexford is handicapped in his investigation because Inspector Mike Burden is preoccupied with grief for his deceased wife and is having an emotional crisis from which he cannot escape.
Chief Inspector Wexford is handicapped in his investigation because Inspector Mike Burden is preoccupied with grief for his deceased wife and is having an emotional crisis from which he cannot escape.
July 13, 2015
Ahah! An Inspector Wexford book I really liked!
The good inspector and his associate, Mike Burden, really have a challenging case this time. Someone has just kidnapped a little boy; someone else kidnapped a young girl a short while ago. Are the cases connected? Is someone in their small village abducting children, and if so, why are all the police's leads leading nowhere?
Meanwhile Mike Burden is going through a crisis of conscience, of emotions, of family, and all due to the fact that he is suddenly, and tragically a widower. (Not a spoiler; this happens off-scene before the book starts.) Mike is more than totally bereft; he is lost, anchorless, a complete misery walking. When he becomes involved with the mother of the missing child, however, all bets are off and the once-prudish, highly opinionated and somewhat bigoted Burden becomes a different man as his interest in the woman turns into an obsession. Wexford is left to go it alone as Mike's need for this woman begins to threaten the investigation, his job and his family. But, I'm getting into spoiler territory here ...
There are several interesting characters to spice up the plot; a lot of weird settings including the remains of a mansion which burned down during WW1. I thought I had it figured out; I thought I knew where this was all going. I was totally and utterly wrong, and yet this is one of those mysteries where the reader is going to say, OMG, should have seen that coming! But didn't.
I read this in a little over a day. Compelling and insightful, this is a more mature mystery than some of Rendell's early works. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, but chopped off one star because of the behavior of one character who seemed - to me - to be a little 'off.' In other words, he - or she - seems to act out of character. But then we all do that from time to time, don't we?
The good inspector and his associate, Mike Burden, really have a challenging case this time. Someone has just kidnapped a little boy; someone else kidnapped a young girl a short while ago. Are the cases connected? Is someone in their small village abducting children, and if so, why are all the police's leads leading nowhere?
Meanwhile Mike Burden is going through a crisis of conscience, of emotions, of family, and all due to the fact that he is suddenly, and tragically a widower. (Not a spoiler; this happens off-scene before the book starts.) Mike is more than totally bereft; he is lost, anchorless, a complete misery walking. When he becomes involved with the mother of the missing child, however, all bets are off and the once-prudish, highly opinionated and somewhat bigoted Burden becomes a different man as his interest in the woman turns into an obsession. Wexford is left to go it alone as Mike's need for this woman begins to threaten the investigation, his job and his family. But, I'm getting into spoiler territory here ...
There are several interesting characters to spice up the plot; a lot of weird settings including the remains of a mansion which burned down during WW1. I thought I had it figured out; I thought I knew where this was all going. I was totally and utterly wrong, and yet this is one of those mysteries where the reader is going to say, OMG, should have seen that coming! But didn't.
I read this in a little over a day. Compelling and insightful, this is a more mature mystery than some of Rendell's early works. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, but chopped off one star because of the behavior of one character who seemed - to me - to be a little 'off.' In other words, he - or she - seems to act out of character. But then we all do that from time to time, don't we?
October 21, 2020
3.5 stars
This one dragged for me and Burden was a pill.
This one dragged for me and Burden was a pill.
February 10, 2015
Engrossing book with an unconvincing ending
April 13, 2020
DAME AGATHA CHRISTIE AND HER PEERS
1971
With a story this dark, can Rendell redeem her characters?
CAST - 4 stars: Inspector Burden's wife, Jean, has died. Jean's sister, Grace Woodville has given up her own career, her life, and moved into Burden's home to take care of children John and Pat Burden. Grace wants more from Burden: she's willing to marry him. Then, Mrs. Gemma Lawrence is divorced from Matthew and her son, also named John, is missing. The dynamics in both households are fascinating and good enough for a novel without murders. But there is death. A third household involves the much-too-handsome Ivan Swan, his wife Rosalind, and their missing daughter Stella. Great cast.
ATMOSPHERE - 3: An unfortunate and cliched weather forecast opens the novel. But a very creepy, empty house with empty water cisterns for fountains enters the picture. And the constrast of the 3 families and their homes is nicely, and lightly, done. And I really like Wexford's speculation, 1/3rd into the story, that perhaps their theories are all "airyfairymoonshine." BUT, things get to dark and there is no need for it.
CRIME - 2: There are missing children involved. This isn't my kind of novel as it's a rather unpleasant read. And Rendell takes the issue a bit too far for grizzly effects.
INVESTIGATION - 1: I didn't believe for a second Burden does what...he does. You'll know what I mean if you choose to read this book. No way, no how.
RESOLUTION - 2: Burden reforms and pulls things together, but still it's all too unbelievable.
SUMMARY - 2.4. This novel could have been so much better had Rendell remained focused and believable on the relationships in the 3 households and had left out certain unnecessary and grizzly details. But Rendell goes for dark. Today, Elizabeth George, a far better writer, takes Rendell's psychological themes further (and smarter) but unfortunately even darker. It's just that for me, this genre, in which there is a crime and the point is for the reader to figure it out, does not need to go this dark. And authors who go down these dark roads need to really deliver a slam-bang finish. George and Charles Todd do both deliver on great finishes often, Rendell usually doesn't or gives us really bad novels, like "In Sickness and In Health." (1.0 star overall from me for that one.)
1971
With a story this dark, can Rendell redeem her characters?
CAST - 4 stars: Inspector Burden's wife, Jean, has died. Jean's sister, Grace Woodville has given up her own career, her life, and moved into Burden's home to take care of children John and Pat Burden. Grace wants more from Burden: she's willing to marry him. Then, Mrs. Gemma Lawrence is divorced from Matthew and her son, also named John, is missing. The dynamics in both households are fascinating and good enough for a novel without murders. But there is death. A third household involves the much-too-handsome Ivan Swan, his wife Rosalind, and their missing daughter Stella. Great cast.
ATMOSPHERE - 3: An unfortunate and cliched weather forecast opens the novel. But a very creepy, empty house with empty water cisterns for fountains enters the picture. And the constrast of the 3 families and their homes is nicely, and lightly, done. And I really like Wexford's speculation, 1/3rd into the story, that perhaps their theories are all "airyfairymoonshine." BUT, things get to dark and there is no need for it.
CRIME - 2: There are missing children involved. This isn't my kind of novel as it's a rather unpleasant read. And Rendell takes the issue a bit too far for grizzly effects.
INVESTIGATION - 1: I didn't believe for a second Burden does what...he does. You'll know what I mean if you choose to read this book. No way, no how.
RESOLUTION - 2: Burden reforms and pulls things together, but still it's all too unbelievable.
SUMMARY - 2.4. This novel could have been so much better had Rendell remained focused and believable on the relationships in the 3 households and had left out certain unnecessary and grizzly details. But Rendell goes for dark. Today, Elizabeth George, a far better writer, takes Rendell's psychological themes further (and smarter) but unfortunately even darker. It's just that for me, this genre, in which there is a crime and the point is for the reader to figure it out, does not need to go this dark. And authors who go down these dark roads need to really deliver a slam-bang finish. George and Charles Todd do both deliver on great finishes often, Rendell usually doesn't or gives us really bad novels, like "In Sickness and In Health." (1.0 star overall from me for that one.)
November 20, 2022
Nine months ago Stella Rivers, twelve years old, disappeared when walking home from riding lessons. Inspector Reg Wexford and the Kingsmarkham police did everything in their power to find her, but there was no trace. Now a five year old boy, John Lawrence, has gone missing after walking away from the neighborhood park. This time letters start arriving--saying that the kidnapper only wanted to keep John for a while and--if the police keep out of it--he will be sent safely home. But when Mike Burden, recently returned from compassionate leave after the death of his wife, discovers Stella's body in the well of an abandoned house, they fear that little John Lawrence may never come home. If the same person is responsible for the disappearance of both children, then it is a race against time that Wexford can't afford to lose.
I actually finished this a couple days ago. I haven't been exactly sure what I want to say about the book. My reading tastes have changed a bit since my teens--not in all ways, but I'd say my affinity for Ruth Rendell is one of them. Back then I read everything of hers our local library had because I couldn't get enough of her. And kept picking up her newer ones into my twenties. In recent years I've revisited some of her books and have been disappointed to find that they just don't hold me the way they did back then. I couldn't even finish A Judgment in Stone though I still realize what an important book it was.
No More Dying Then was better, though the child endangerment trope hits me harder now than it did before I had a son. The mystery plot itself was intriguing and the motive for the murder was an interesting one and led to a satisfying, surprising ending. But I have to say that Mike Burden got on my nerves here. He's supposedly grieving for his wife (and, yes, he does think about some sweet moments with her)--but it seems to me that what he's really missing is sex. Until about midway or so in the book he's been too prudish to seek relief outside of the marriage bed--which turns him into a snarly, distracted colleague for Wexford. It's amazing how his late-book fling turns things around for him (not that Burden is ever an extraordinarily cheerful kind of guy). And the way he treats his sister-in-law and children--well, he ought to be ashamed. He is a bit at the end, so there's that. [Though I still get the sense that he's very self-absorbed.]
Good mystery. Less focus on Burden would have made it better.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
I actually finished this a couple days ago. I haven't been exactly sure what I want to say about the book. My reading tastes have changed a bit since my teens--not in all ways, but I'd say my affinity for Ruth Rendell is one of them. Back then I read everything of hers our local library had because I couldn't get enough of her. And kept picking up her newer ones into my twenties. In recent years I've revisited some of her books and have been disappointed to find that they just don't hold me the way they did back then. I couldn't even finish A Judgment in Stone though I still realize what an important book it was.
No More Dying Then was better, though the child endangerment trope hits me harder now than it did before I had a son. The mystery plot itself was intriguing and the motive for the murder was an interesting one and led to a satisfying, surprising ending. But I have to say that Mike Burden got on my nerves here. He's supposedly grieving for his wife (and, yes, he does think about some sweet moments with her)--but it seems to me that what he's really missing is sex. Until about midway or so in the book he's been too prudish to seek relief outside of the marriage bed--which turns him into a snarly, distracted colleague for Wexford. It's amazing how his late-book fling turns things around for him (not that Burden is ever an extraordinarily cheerful kind of guy). And the way he treats his sister-in-law and children--well, he ought to be ashamed. He is a bit at the end, so there's that. [Though I still get the sense that he's very self-absorbed.]
Good mystery. Less focus on Burden would have made it better.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
February 23, 2026
I’ve often said that I enjoy mystery series because the long character arcs allows the writer to do interesting things to bring about growth in the characters. Well, did Rendell do something interesting with Burden in this installment of the Inspector Wexford series!
A 5-year-old boy is reported missing and soon, Wexford is reminded of Stella Rivers, a 12-year-old girl who disappeared a year ago. She has never been found. To make matters worse, Wexford is investigating all alone, because Burden is awol - mentally, at least.
Burden’s beloved wife, Jean, contracted cancer and died, leaving him with two children to raise. Jean’s sister, Grace, has given up her nursing job to take care of the household and Pat and John. Burden, meanwhile, is not simply grieving - he is an angry, raving MESS. He won’t stay at home and he can’t concentrate on work. Wexford tries to talk to him, but Burden snaps at him.
Burden’s biggest problem is unfulfilled sexual desire. His strict moral code won’t allow him to hire a prostitute or pick up a woman for a one-night stand. But when he is interviewing Gemma, the mother of the missing boy, something happens - he notices she is beautiful in a blowsy, bohemian way. Grateful for his help, Gemma kisses him and that simple kiss turns into one of passion, and soon, a full-blown affair.
Now wracked with guilt, Burden behaves worse than ever. He seldom goes home. He goes to work, but stares through everyone. Only with Gemma can he find any peace. Because he is having sex with her, Burden immediately proposes marriage, not taking the time to consider they have nothing in common, and that their life philosophies are completely different.
Rendell’s treatment of Burden’s character here is simply masterful. The one complaint I have is the ending.
BTW, the title is from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 146, one of my favorites, here in full:
A 5-year-old boy is reported missing and soon, Wexford is reminded of Stella Rivers, a 12-year-old girl who disappeared a year ago. She has never been found. To make matters worse, Wexford is investigating all alone, because Burden is awol - mentally, at least.
Burden’s beloved wife, Jean, contracted cancer and died, leaving him with two children to raise. Jean’s sister, Grace, has given up her nursing job to take care of the household and Pat and John. Burden, meanwhile, is not simply grieving - he is an angry, raving MESS. He won’t stay at home and he can’t concentrate on work. Wexford tries to talk to him, but Burden snaps at him.
Burden’s biggest problem is unfulfilled sexual desire. His strict moral code won’t allow him to hire a prostitute or pick up a woman for a one-night stand. But when he is interviewing Gemma, the mother of the missing boy, something happens - he notices she is beautiful in a blowsy, bohemian way. Grateful for his help, Gemma kisses him and that simple kiss turns into one of passion, and soon, a full-blown affair.
Now wracked with guilt, Burden behaves worse than ever. He seldom goes home. He goes to work, but stares through everyone. Only with Gemma can he find any peace. Because he is having sex with her, Burden immediately proposes marriage, not taking the time to consider they have nothing in common, and that their life philosophies are completely different.
Rendell’s treatment of Burden’s character here is simply masterful. The one complaint I have is the ending.
BTW, the title is from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 146, one of my favorites, here in full:
Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,
[......] these rebel powers that thee array,
Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,
Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?
Why so large cost, having so short a lease,
Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend?
Shall worms, inheritors of this excess,
Eat up thy charge? Is this thy body's end?
Then soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss
And let that pine to aggravate thy store;
Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross;
Within be fed, without be rich no more.
So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
And, Death once dead, there's no more dying then.
December 10, 2016
I haven't read many books by Ruth Rendell but enjoyed the others that I read more than this one. The story spends more time on the personal aspects of Inspector Burden (who works with Inspector Wexford) than on the actual mystery. (Or at least that was my impression.) Burden's wife has died; he is having a hard time concentrating at work, doesn't pay attention to his children, and has an affair with a woman with whom he has very little in common.
I also felt that the ending was too much deus ex machine .
If I had read more of the earlier books and understood more about who Burden was before his wife's death I might have been more sympathetic to the character.
I also felt that the ending was too much deus ex machine .
If I had read more of the earlier books and understood more about who Burden was before his wife's death I might have been more sympathetic to the character.
September 16, 2019
I tend to think Burden is a bit a jerk and, boy, is he a total asshole in this one. Sleeping with a parent whose child is missing, jealous of that child and rather seeming to wish it wouldn’t be found. His usual intolerance and sexism is cranked up to 110. His (first) wife has died and her lookalike (but somehow not twin) sister is there taking care of HIS kids and HIS house and he totally takes her and the fact that she gave up her career to help HIM for granted.
Two stars off because, really, what kind of “hero” isn’t unreservedly glad when a missing 5 year old is found? Especially when the five year old belongs to his beloved girlfriend? It beggars belief.
Wexford was good as usual. The book was well written and well edited, again as usual.
Two stars off because, really, what kind of “hero” isn’t unreservedly glad when a missing 5 year old is found? Especially when the five year old belongs to his beloved girlfriend? It beggars belief.
Wexford was good as usual. The book was well written and well edited, again as usual.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 3, 2018
I know the author was very successful and has a large following but I ma not going to be one of them. This was my first Inspector Wexford novel and what I discovered was the book was not at all about him but rather about the sexual frustration of one of his subordinates and his attempt to find a missing child. The only mystery here was who was going to sexually satisfy the DI.
April 24, 2023
Good, with some interesting characters.
July 22, 2024
Rereading Ruth Rendell in order is definitely giving me more insight into some of the recurring characters - mainly Wexford and Burden, and in this case mainly Burden.
No More Dying Then, published in 1971, was Rendell's tenth book overall and the sixth to feature Wexford and co. It's very Burden-centric. Mike is lost in grief after the death of his wife Jean, barely functioning at work and especially not at home, where Jean's sister Grace has selflessly moved in to take care of the house and children. Not that Burden appreciates it. When a local child goes missing, he becomes entangled with the boy's mother, a free-spirited young woman who is distraught at the disappearance of her five year old son. Gemma Lawrence and Burden could hardly be more different - she's everything he disapproves of in many ways - but both are seeking comfort in each other. Of course, the relationship that develops is both unprofessional on Burden's part and destined to failure - they're just too different.
Meanwhile, the earlier, unsolved disappearance of another child, twelve year old Stella Rivers, is resurfacing. Is there a connection to John Lawrence? And is there any chance of John being found alive, as a mysterious letter writer claims?
Another excellent read.
No More Dying Then, published in 1971, was Rendell's tenth book overall and the sixth to feature Wexford and co. It's very Burden-centric. Mike is lost in grief after the death of his wife Jean, barely functioning at work and especially not at home, where Jean's sister Grace has selflessly moved in to take care of the house and children. Not that Burden appreciates it. When a local child goes missing, he becomes entangled with the boy's mother, a free-spirited young woman who is distraught at the disappearance of her five year old son. Gemma Lawrence and Burden could hardly be more different - she's everything he disapproves of in many ways - but both are seeking comfort in each other. Of course, the relationship that develops is both unprofessional on Burden's part and destined to failure - they're just too different.
Meanwhile, the earlier, unsolved disappearance of another child, twelve year old Stella Rivers, is resurfacing. Is there a connection to John Lawrence? And is there any chance of John being found alive, as a mysterious letter writer claims?
Another excellent read.
September 14, 2025
As a brief St. Luke's Little Summer in mid-October gives the village of Kingsmarhkam a respite from the coming winter, Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford and his colleague Mike Burden are caught up in the case of a young boy gone missing. But in this most puzzling and potentially heart-rending investigation, when Wexford most needs his trusted right-hand man, Burden keeps going strangely missing himself. Even when he's around the police station, he's not there, not really. He's angry, morose; not at all himself.
In fact, Burden is deeply in mourning for his wife, Jean, who as the novel opens has died of cancer a few months previously. His world has literally been shattered; Jean's sister, Grace, is at his house, helping care for him and his two children. But Burden is angry, confused, grief-stricken. He takes Grace's assistance and her child-care for granted, never seeming to realize how much she does for them - or the personal career sacrifice she's made in order to care for all three of them. His life is empty and Burden can no longer see how to move forward without the one woman he's loved for so long.
So when he meets the missing boy's mother, Gemma, and sees how completely unlike she is to Jean, Burden's repressed sexual urges and need for love nearly send him out of his mind, making him act in quite an unprofessional way. He's so vulnerable and we feel pity for him, yet know he can no more deny what is between himself and the anxious mother of the missing boy than he could the need to eat or sleep. He's never met anyone like her and he can't stop himself. In a way, they are each grieving and become each other's comfort.
So Burden is about to learn some things - about life, about love, about loss and parting. But meanwhile, his family is drawing further away from him and, if his job performance doesn't perk up, likely he'll lose that, too.
Meanwhile, Wexford continues to investigate both the current case and the one it increasingly appears tied to, the previous murder of a little girl some months before that, until now, has gone unsolved. Could the two events be connected? Wexford must find out - either with Burden, or without him.
By this novel in Rendell's "Wexford" series, both Wexford and Burden are becoming more rounded, intriguing characters. We're getting to know them much better as people, outside the police station and the cases in which they are involved. Her characters are growing - and that includes the "side" characters, the other cop shop residents, the coroner (who is also Wexford's doctor) and the members of as each man's family. I especially love the instances of humor Rendell injects into her characters, with Wexford tossing off quotes by Shakespeare and references to George Eliot and Burden completely missing the point of what Wexford has said - let alone who said it.
I can't wait to read more of these two and highly recommend anyone interested to start with the first novel in the series, "From Doon With Death".
In fact, Burden is deeply in mourning for his wife, Jean, who as the novel opens has died of cancer a few months previously. His world has literally been shattered; Jean's sister, Grace, is at his house, helping care for him and his two children. But Burden is angry, confused, grief-stricken. He takes Grace's assistance and her child-care for granted, never seeming to realize how much she does for them - or the personal career sacrifice she's made in order to care for all three of them. His life is empty and Burden can no longer see how to move forward without the one woman he's loved for so long.
So when he meets the missing boy's mother, Gemma, and sees how completely unlike she is to Jean, Burden's repressed sexual urges and need for love nearly send him out of his mind, making him act in quite an unprofessional way. He's so vulnerable and we feel pity for him, yet know he can no more deny what is between himself and the anxious mother of the missing boy than he could the need to eat or sleep. He's never met anyone like her and he can't stop himself. In a way, they are each grieving and become each other's comfort.
So Burden is about to learn some things - about life, about love, about loss and parting. But meanwhile, his family is drawing further away from him and, if his job performance doesn't perk up, likely he'll lose that, too.
Meanwhile, Wexford continues to investigate both the current case and the one it increasingly appears tied to, the previous murder of a little girl some months before that, until now, has gone unsolved. Could the two events be connected? Wexford must find out - either with Burden, or without him.
By this novel in Rendell's "Wexford" series, both Wexford and Burden are becoming more rounded, intriguing characters. We're getting to know them much better as people, outside the police station and the cases in which they are involved. Her characters are growing - and that includes the "side" characters, the other cop shop residents, the coroner (who is also Wexford's doctor) and the members of as each man's family. I especially love the instances of humor Rendell injects into her characters, with Wexford tossing off quotes by Shakespeare and references to George Eliot and Burden completely missing the point of what Wexford has said - let alone who said it.
I can't wait to read more of these two and highly recommend anyone interested to start with the first novel in the series, "From Doon With Death".
January 16, 2015
A five-year-old boy goes missing and, in short order, circumstantial evidence connects it to the earlier disappearance of a 12-year-old girl in the same neighborhood.
Chief Inspector Reg Wexford is immediately involved in sifting clues but receives little help from a self-absorbed Inspector Mike Burden, his usual sounding board and second-in-command.
Burden has fallen in love with the mother of the missing boy, which makes him a burden (excuse the pun) and not a plus to the investigation. I’ve always considered Burden somewhat of a prig, but he goes beyond that in this novel. Okay, he’s grieving for his wife who recently died. That does not excuse the poor treatment of his devoted sister-in-law and his children and definitely makes him unworthy of Wexford’s affection.
With little help from anyone else, Wexford goes along in his normal astute manner and unravels the cases, which prove to be only tenuously connected and have motives different than I’d suspected.
Not the best in the series, but still worth reading for Rendell’s sure characterization, insightful psychological probing and beautiful prose.
Chief Inspector Reg Wexford is immediately involved in sifting clues but receives little help from a self-absorbed Inspector Mike Burden, his usual sounding board and second-in-command.
Burden has fallen in love with the mother of the missing boy, which makes him a burden (excuse the pun) and not a plus to the investigation. I’ve always considered Burden somewhat of a prig, but he goes beyond that in this novel. Okay, he’s grieving for his wife who recently died. That does not excuse the poor treatment of his devoted sister-in-law and his children and definitely makes him unworthy of Wexford’s affection.
With little help from anyone else, Wexford goes along in his normal astute manner and unravels the cases, which prove to be only tenuously connected and have motives different than I’d suspected.
Not the best in the series, but still worth reading for Rendell’s sure characterization, insightful psychological probing and beautiful prose.
jumped-straight-to-the-end
June 28, 2016Let the shelf speaks for itself.
Really. How many ways can you spell 'boring' and 'recycled as carbons'?
The crime is damnably vanilla. Kid-napping, in the strictest sense of the word. Just when you thought that you definitely cannot invest more time in this book and decided to read it intermittently, you then realized, aghast, that alas, this book features the one and inimitable English Puritan distilled and personified, our very own walking skeleton Michael Burden.
Jeez. I cannot sympathize with him. He is a copper in his prime age with a very ancient, unforgiving mind who refuses to fathom and understand human flaws. Even his superior, who is maybe 20 years older, is more flexible.
It is rare that a suffering character does not elicit sympathy, but Mike Burden manages to do so. He is so unlikable I cannot help but secretly crow with muted delight that he, he, he, our sainted, holiest-than-thou policeman, is being shoved forcibly into a situation where he can see his true nature, which is ugly.
I had deemed this book boring based on the crime. I then decided afterwards that this book is unsalvageable judging from the character Rendell chose to put in the limelight.
Really. How many ways can you spell 'boring' and 'recycled as carbons'?
The crime is damnably vanilla. Kid-napping, in the strictest sense of the word. Just when you thought that you definitely cannot invest more time in this book and decided to read it intermittently, you then realized, aghast, that alas, this book features the one and inimitable English Puritan distilled and personified, our very own
Jeez. I cannot sympathize with him. He is a copper in his prime age with a very ancient, unforgiving mind who refuses to fathom and understand human flaws. Even his superior, who is maybe 20 years older, is more flexible.
It is rare that a suffering character does not elicit sympathy, but Mike Burden manages to do so. He is so unlikable I cannot help but secretly crow with muted delight that he, he, he, our sainted, holiest-than-thou policeman, is being shoved forcibly into a situation where he can see his true nature, which is ugly.
I had deemed this book boring based on the crime. I then decided afterwards that this book is unsalvageable judging from the character Rendell chose to put in the limelight.
August 3, 2017
Read again 01/02/17 for maze mystery discussion group.
Even though I loved this book a year ago, I had forgotten the specifics completely. It was still good and perhaps enhanced by recognizing some old characters from former titles in the series.
OK, so why did someone not put me on to Ruth Rendell earlier? It took her death a few months ago for me to read her first Inspector Wexford mystery and now this one is even better than that. The setting is a small English town, but not so provincial as St. Mary Mead. Wexford is a great detective and puts together the clues well once they all come to him. This is a complicated story of two child kidnappings more than six months apart which come together in the search for suspects. The interaction between Wexford and his next in command Burden is wonderful, even when it is strained as in this story. I will go on to read more of these -- in order this time.
Even though I loved this book a year ago, I had forgotten the specifics completely. It was still good and perhaps enhanced by recognizing some old characters from former titles in the series.
OK, so why did someone not put me on to Ruth Rendell earlier? It took her death a few months ago for me to read her first Inspector Wexford mystery and now this one is even better than that. The setting is a small English town, but not so provincial as St. Mary Mead. Wexford is a great detective and puts together the clues well once they all come to him. This is a complicated story of two child kidnappings more than six months apart which come together in the search for suspects. The interaction between Wexford and his next in command Burden is wonderful, even when it is strained as in this story. I will go on to read more of these -- in order this time.
June 20, 2012
The plot was good but the thrill just kept declining. Wexford was a good character and the way he solved the murder of the girl was great. But whenever Burden came into picture, he just ripped the story. He is selfish, sex-starved and he hates his own kids. He is seen taking advantage of a vulnerable woman who just lost her only child and the way he found the lost child was superb lame. Burden's character was useless.
May 28, 2017
I have read several of these Inspector Wexford books. This one is particularly good. A 4 year old boy has disappeared outside his own house while playing with others in the neighborhood. This after a 12 year old girl had disappeared months earlier and had never been found. Instead of just being a police procedural about finding the links in the cases and solving the mystery, this story focuses especially on Wexford's right hand man, Inspector Burden. Burden's wife has died of cancer and he is not coping. His sister-in-law has put her life on hold to come care for Burden's 2 children, but he is treating her like a servant and completely ignoring his children. He is so miserable his work is suffering. Then he meets the exotic, bohemian mother of the missing boy. So begins a torrid affair that threatens to sweep Burden over the cliff emotionally. Wexford solves the case without the help of his friend Burden. I found the story compelling and interesting because the dual tales.
August 4, 2021
Der Roman ist mittlerweile 50 Jahre alt, also kein Internet und keine Handys...
Ich mag diese alten Krimis zwischendurch sehr und bin erstaunt, wie so eine Geschichte heute noch funktioniert.
Inspektor Burdon und sein Frauenbild nervt schon ein wenig und ist auch nicht 70er, sondern vermutlich noch älter, aber das konnte ich hier gut ignorieren.
Alles in allem ein spannender Fall, ohne Blutvergießen, ohne Mord und Totschlag.
Ich mag diese alten Krimis zwischendurch sehr und bin erstaunt, wie so eine Geschichte heute noch funktioniert.
Inspektor Burdon und sein Frauenbild nervt schon ein wenig und ist auch nicht 70er, sondern vermutlich noch älter, aber das konnte ich hier gut ignorieren.
Alles in allem ein spannender Fall, ohne Blutvergießen, ohne Mord und Totschlag.
December 31, 2022
I quite enjoyed this book, and consider it as one of the best Wexford mysteries I have read so far!
April 1, 2020
This one is upsetting, particularly if you hate seeing characters you like behaving like assholes. But the overall book is a good one about sexual frustration, the madness of grief, and the difference between loving children and loving a spouse. Also, way underneath, it’s a tricky Agatha Christie-like whodunnit—with train timetables and secrets out of the past. The denouement is a bit rushed and fantastic, but I was impressed yet again by Rendell’s adventurousness. And point of view—she is a genius at it.
May 9, 2014
Finally!
I don't know what has kept me coming back to this series, but I'm glad I held on. Perhaps it was the strength of the later, stand-alone novels I'd read of Rendell's, but this series had so many problems in the first five volumes. What made the difference? Two things: characters, and technology.
Primarily, this series is about what all good series (hold on a sec, maybe I'm jumping the gun on "good" for the Wexford series) are: the characters. What has been odd at times is the focus Rendell places on Burden, the nudge-winkingly named understudy of the titular Wexford who seems to be so much more interesting to the author. Yet, the books are a part of the Wexford series. Still, I'm starting to see what she's doing now, even if she wasn't aware of it in the beginning. Much like Doyle's detective, these stories are really about Burden, much as the Holmes stories are about Watson (Really, they are). Wexford comes in to make the intuitive leap (Holmes never really deduces anything-- he's really all about inductive reasoning) and the human drama centers around Burden, who in this novel is still grieving the loss of his wife, who apparently died in between books. The focus on Burden becomes necessary because Rendell's made Wexford too perfect; the worst you can say about him is he can be a bit prickly. Burden, who is so stoic and conservative in the earlier novels, here reveals a vulnerability, even a recklessness, that while not Rebus in nature by any stretch, gives us a chance to see a more dimensional character. Finally. I'm still digesting, but it seems as though Rendell has created (at least in this novel, but it seems to be pointing in a particular direction--we'll see how it goes) Wexford as a comic foil to Burden's pathos.
The second thing that makes this book so much better is a minor thing, but it goes far in correcting a near-fatal error for me. Rendell largely avoids technology. More than anything else, technology can date a story, and in the earlier books Rendell clearly, obviously, places her stories in the 60s. I kid you not, the installation of an elevator plays centrally in the previous novel as an intruding, unwanted advancement, and the novel instantly becomes a period piece as a result. This novel? No technology. It could have happened (almost) at any time. It almost makes up for the fact that Wexford is a grandfather in this book and, 40+ years later is newly retired. How old is this guy?
OK, rambling. This is a welcome change, and I can only hope it is a trend going forward. We'll see tonight...
I don't know what has kept me coming back to this series, but I'm glad I held on. Perhaps it was the strength of the later, stand-alone novels I'd read of Rendell's, but this series had so many problems in the first five volumes. What made the difference? Two things: characters, and technology.
Primarily, this series is about what all good series (hold on a sec, maybe I'm jumping the gun on "good" for the Wexford series) are: the characters. What has been odd at times is the focus Rendell places on Burden, the nudge-winkingly named understudy of the titular Wexford who seems to be so much more interesting to the author. Yet, the books are a part of the Wexford series. Still, I'm starting to see what she's doing now, even if she wasn't aware of it in the beginning. Much like Doyle's detective, these stories are really about Burden, much as the Holmes stories are about Watson (Really, they are). Wexford comes in to make the intuitive leap (Holmes never really deduces anything-- he's really all about inductive reasoning) and the human drama centers around Burden, who in this novel is still grieving the loss of his wife, who apparently died in between books. The focus on Burden becomes necessary because Rendell's made Wexford too perfect; the worst you can say about him is he can be a bit prickly. Burden, who is so stoic and conservative in the earlier novels, here reveals a vulnerability, even a recklessness, that while not Rebus in nature by any stretch, gives us a chance to see a more dimensional character. Finally. I'm still digesting, but it seems as though Rendell has created (at least in this novel, but it seems to be pointing in a particular direction--we'll see how it goes) Wexford as a comic foil to Burden's pathos.
The second thing that makes this book so much better is a minor thing, but it goes far in correcting a near-fatal error for me. Rendell largely avoids technology. More than anything else, technology can date a story, and in the earlier books Rendell clearly, obviously, places her stories in the 60s. I kid you not, the installation of an elevator plays centrally in the previous novel as an intruding, unwanted advancement, and the novel instantly becomes a period piece as a result. This novel? No technology. It could have happened (almost) at any time. It almost makes up for the fact that Wexford is a grandfather in this book and, 40+ years later is newly retired. How old is this guy?
OK, rambling. This is a welcome change, and I can only hope it is a trend going forward. We'll see tonight...
March 9, 2020
first book by other. was just ok. Will try another one. As series has promise.
August 24, 2015
Read by.................. Robin Bailey
Total Runtime......... 6 Hours 43 Mins
Description: This novel deals with the disappearance of a small boy. Six months earlier, a twelve-year-old girl disappeared in the same vicinity, and was never found. So the two events terrify the community and galvanize Chief Wexford and his deputy Burden into action. At the same time, Burden is having a very hard time dealing with the loss of his wife to cancer about nine months earlier. In fact, the secondary plot of Burden's emotional struggles almost overshadows the mystery itself. Rendell handles both sides of her story with smooth professional polish. The plotting is believable and skillful, the writing is excellent, the characterizations are insightful.
This is the one with the missing small boy, and we learn about Burden's sad widower status.3* From Doon With Death (Inspector Wexford, #1)
3* A New Lease of Death (Inspector Wexford, #2)
3* Wolf to the Slaughter (Inspector Wexford, #3)
2* The Best Man to Die (Inspector Wexford, #4)
3* A Guilty Thing Suprised #5
3* No More Dying Then (Inspector Wexford, #6)
3* Murder Being Once Done (Inspector Wexford, #7)
3* Not in the Flesh (Inspector Wexford, #21)
2* The Vault (Inspector Wexford, #23)
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