Cyndi J. (cyndij) reviewed on 5/21/2019 + 1032 more book reviews

Second in the Inspector Wexford series. After picking up a few here and there over the years, I'm reading them in order. I had some interesting reactions to this one. For the first half of the book, I disliked everyone in it except Burden. I didn't remember Rendell depicting Wexford as she does here - a big grey man, somewhat crude, irritable and with a "violent" sense of humor. But there it is in print, so okay. Wexford doesn't really do much in this book, and even Burden is there sort of as a sounding board; most of the investigating is done by the self-righteous vicar whose son wants to marry the murderer's daughter. The other characters are all irritating, with lots of turbulent emotion about things that wouldn't turn a hair today (one of them does mention something about how "kids these days" wouldn't be bothered). So I kind of plodded along, but Rendell does a fantastic job with mood and atmosphere I couldn't help but keep reading. Then I really wanted to know how Rendell was going to make both Wexford and the vicar right. It all comes together in the end, although not surprisingly it feels rather dated. But an interesting look back at attitudes 50 years ago.

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