Ruth Rendell Not in the Flesh

Not in the Flesh

Ruth Rendell

Crown., Jun. 2008, $25.95

ISBN 9780307406811

Digging for truffles Jim Belbury and his late brother's Jack Russell Honey find something they were unprepared to come across. Instead of truffles they find a corpse buried on a vacant lot. He calls Information who get him connected to the Kingsmarkham police station. Chief Inspector Wexford leads the investigation in which he does not need forensics experts to tell him the body was interred a long time ago. Inside the basement of the abandoned building on this same property the police team finds a second murder victim; also dead for quite a long time.

There is little useful evidence at either crime scene so the team begins to slowly and methodically interview the neighbors who offer little help, but most act somewhat suspiciously as if they are hiding something pertinent or another crime. Resolving the double homicides seems to be going nowhere, but Wexford keeps digging uncovering clues that begin to shape the case.

There is a second investigation involving genital mutilation of Somali immigrants that add to this strong Wexford police procedural. Wexford calmly interrogates eccentrics while opining to the readers that civilization is dying due to modernization; his proof is the people he interviews. NOT IN THE FLESH is an engaging investigative tale as the case unfolds slowly one clue at a time.

Harriet Klausner