The Babes In The Wood: (A Wexford Case) (Wexford, 18) - Tapa blanda

"Chief Inspector Wexford is Rendell's most enduring and best creation" (Daily Telegraph)

"As usual, Rendell mirrors aspects of the case in the leading characters' personal lives and her cleverly understated writing bathes them and their actions in a glow of reality that sets her writing above that of her many imitators." (Time Out)

"As always with Ruth Rendell's intricately thought-out novels, nothing is as simple as it seems." (Sunday Express)

"Superb plotting and psychological insight make this another Rendell gripper" (Woman & Home)

"Utterly absorbing" (Sunday Telegraph)

The nineteenth book to feature the classic crime-solving detective, Chief Inspector Wexford.

'A woman phoned to say she and her husband went to Paris for the weekend, leaving their children with a - well, teen-sitter, I suppose, got back last night to find the lot gone and naturally she assumes they've all drowned.'

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 lives, 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 is convinced her children are dead.

As he embarks upon this mysterious investigation, Wexford is forced to question many of his core assumptions about society, even about his own family...