Ruth Rendell — An Unkindness of Ravens

Arrow (UK) 1986 Paperback, 269pp. When a man disappears, two wives search for their missing husband, and all the young women in Kingsmarkham seem to have a motive, Chief Inspector Wexford must untangle a complex web of secrets. Chief Inspector Wexford finds nothing unusual in the disappearance of Rodney Williams, a husband and father who likely has run off with another woman. But when the man’s car and suitcase are discovered abandoned, can a body be far behind? Confounded by a string of violent stabbings, a strident schoolgirl clique, and the seemingly placid domesticity of his neighbors, Wexford’s detective instincts must take flight in order to bring down a murderer. With a keen wit and even sharper plot, Rendell weaves a suspenseful web of ever-tangling secrets, double-crosses, and double-lives. (ISBN: 9780099450702). Good.