No Man's Nightingale

When the vicar of St Peter's Church in Kingsmartin is found murdered, there are a lot of suspects. The fact that the vicar was a woman, half Indian, and a single mother had made her unpopular with many both in her congregation and throughout the village. Although Wexford is now retired, he is asked to assist. When the police make an arrest, Wexford is convinced they have the wrong man but he's the only one who thinks the man is innocent.

This is, I believe, the 24th Inspector Wexford novel and, in many ways it seemed more cozy mystery a la Miss Marple than police procedural ie savvy oldster not only helps police but solves the mystery despite them. However, in this novel, the oldster doesn't seem as savvy as he has in the past. In fact, show more for a retired inspector, he seems downright amateurish at times. When, for example, he discovers a letter in a book which could be an important clue, he deliberately sticks it in his pocket rather than turn it over to the police and then promptly forgets about it.

Still, this is a Ruth Rendell novel and although Wexford may not be at the top of his form, Rendell has not lost her keen powers of observation of the human condition warts and all. There are plenty of quirky characters and red herrings galore and she manages to keep the identity of the murderer hidden right to the end. The pacing of the story is rather slow, more invigorating stroll than fast train and, like most of Rendell's books, the mystery is more of a mind tease than a gory in-your-face throw'em down and shoot 'em up thriller. But nobody does this better than Rendall and, if this isn't her best novel, it is still a heck of a good read. show less

Nearly 40 years on since he emerged in FROM DOON WITH DEATH (1964) Reg Wexford, now retired after a lifetime as Chief Inspector Wexford, is happily reading his way through The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Retirement is suiting him better now than it did in THE VAULT where he took up Detective Superintendent Tom Ede's offer of being an unpaid serious crimes adviser. But he still likes to feel needed, doing something important.

This time it is former colleague and friend Mike Burden who asks him if he would interested in a bit of unpaid consultancy following the murder of a local vicar.

Most of NO MAN'S NIGHTINGALE is written from Wexford's point of view. Wexford finds for example that Burden is running the the investigation show more differently to the way he would have done. In his opinion Burden has too many conferences and Wexford finds that in his consultancy capacity he is really not able to voice his opinions freely. Nor can he prevent his friend from making some disastrous errors. Because the murder has taken place in the community in which he lives Wexford finds he at times has to tread a very narrow line. For example, as a private person he learns information that he wouldn't come across as a policeman, and he is not sure whether he is still duty bound to report it to the police.

I think Rendell has taken great pains to present us with an aging Wexford, whose brain is still very much alive and alert, but no longer quite as agile as it used to be. But his powers of observation and deduction are still strong.

So, an aging person myself, that assured my feeling of empathy with Wexford.

And what about Rendell, now 83. How is her writing going? Well, I don't think this is her best book, but it still puts her at the forefront of today's writers. Fans will enjoy Wexford's latest outing. show less

Wexford in retirement is not the same Wexford as DCI. I've read the last few books which take up with Wexford in his retirement from the CID. They just don't grab me the same way. Ruth Rendell is an excellent writer, and she has been one of my favourites for many years, both as herself and under her pseudonym Barbara Vine. She has a way of exploring the "off the wall" like no other author out there. But her latest books just don't have the same tension or even the same creepy characters. In this book Wexford is called out of retirement by his pal and former co-worker Burden when a female vicar is found strangled in her home.He's asked to come and observe, but with Wexford being Wexford observation alone is not in his wheelhouse. He gets show more thoroughtly involved with the vicar and all the people connected to her in some way. He follows his own line of enquiry which is in a totally different direction than Burden's. The idea of the story is a good one and the plotline is tight as I've come to expect from Ms. Rendell, but there wasn't much tension at all during the entire book. Not what I expect from Ms. Rendell at all. show less

In No Man's Nightingale, by Ruth Rendell, the old job of Chief Inspector Wexford has been taken by his long-time protege, Mike Burden, as Wexford himself has retired. Burden, however, is always glad to call on Wexford for his help and insights in particular investigations, and when a half-Indian, female Anglican pastor is murdered in her own home, Burden calls upon Wexford, interested in his thoughts about the case. But Wexford's thoughts lead in many directions, whereas Burden has set his sights on one specific culprit, and when their ideas clash, Wexford finds himself continuing the investigation on his own, despite the fact that he has no legal standing for doing so at all.... I've always enjoyed Rendell's work, and her Chief show more Inspector Wexford books have always been entertaining, but I'd consider this to be a lesser entry in the long-running series. As usual, I enjoyed the various characters that she conjours up, but I felt that some of them were left at quite loose ends - how did infant Isabella get on after the car crash, for example, and was Maxine going to hold a grudge against Wexford forever? Some story lines just seemed to be dropped arbitrarily, which is a shame. Still, sub-par Rendell is still head and shoulders above most other mystery writers, so I would still recommend this book. Just don't start with it, if you've never read her before; work your way through her massive oevre first, and then give this one a whirl. show less

I am a latecomer to the Inspector Wexford novels, but found this, the twenty-fourth (!) installment in the series, to work quite well as a stand-alone read. And now I can look forward to the particular (if somewhat peculiar) pleasure of reading through the backlist in reverse....

unsurprisingly icky. I quite like the way that Rendell resolves her mysteries, but I do find them rather brutal.

Satisfactory. Inspector Wexford is old, and he investigates things as an old man would. He putters around. He is reminded of things. He thinks about the way things used to be. He forgets things. He remembers them again. Not very exciting, but I enjoy it.