The eighteenth book in the bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series, from the author of classic detective fiction and gripping psychological thrillers including End in Tears and Thirteen Steps Down.

Readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will love this deliciously tense and suspenseful thriller from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. An absolute page-turner you won't be able to stop reading...

'The Wexford books clearly display Rendell's great mastery of storytelling at its best' -- Sunday Telegraph
'Rendell's detective fiction stands almost alone as a chronicle of the dark side of modern life...' -- Independent
'Unputdownable' -- ***** Reader review
'Another cracker from Rendell!' -- ***** Reader review
'A masterpiece' -- ***** Reader review
'When does Ruth Rendell ever write anything other than excellent?' -- ***** Reader review
'Thought provoking and absorbing' -- ***** Reader review
**********************************************************************
A young girl disappears, then another.

A notorious paedophile is released back into the community. The residents of the Muriel Campden Estate are up in arms, and even prepared to take the law into their own hands...

As a policeman, Chief Inspector Wexford is faced with the effects of violence and prejudice every day.

His daughter, Sylvia, has come to work nearby in a refuge for battered women. Her marriage is not a happy one, although her husband has never raised a hand to her. They are merely incompatible. Other women in Kingsmarkham are not so lucky...

Wexford is soon called upon to investigate two extremely serious crimes which will affect the lives and attitudes of police and innocent villagers alike...