An elderly man takes his dog out for a walk round the garden before going to bed. The next day he is found dead, drowned in the pond. Accident or murder?

I did notice some clues and realise their significance but still didn't manage to get all the way there. ( )

Another month, another Wexford. And a good one it is!

It pays off when reading this series to pay attention to detail. Rendell wastes few words, even when it seems she's simply adding a bit of local color or building out a personality. These places or people might not be important to the plot, but they very well could be. And in a book like this, where the plot is deliciously complicated, we are given plenty of diversions to lure us away from those incidentals. When they re-emerge and are pulled together at the end we have no choice but to say, "Well done again, Ms. Rendell! You hid nothing from us, and yet the conclusion is not what we'd expected."

Of course, for most of the book Wexford didn't put it together either, so I suppose we are to be forgiven.

One comment: the audiobook version I listened to (from Audible) was narrated by Charles Kay. Sadly, Mr. Kay's American accents are appalling. It would seem that at times he was trying to do something regional, but since they didn't even really sound American to begin with, that didn't work. I noticed that there is another version narrated by Davina Porter, who is always excellent. I recommend that you pick that one if you have the choice.
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It took me a while to get into it. Then when it got me hooked I could not stop. Then . . . wait. I was confused. The characters were confused. But, as it often is in life, we made it a lot more complicated than it really was. A good story. Inspector Inspector Wexford and his wife got to vacation in California as well! ( )

(57) The 11th or so Inspector Wexford novel. In this one Wexford inadvertently gets drawn into the possibility that a new heiress is a fraud and the recent accidental death of her father, a famous flutist, was not an accident at all. It is a bit of a convoluted story taking Wexford to California and the South of France. Unlike other novels, there seems to be no side story involving the recurring characters, unless you want to count his daughter Shelia, the actress, who gets married in this one - but its not really much of a plot line.

Of course, once again - I didn't suss things out correctly. Though the so-called 'simple' explanation was just as convoluted as the path Rendell initially led us down. I don't know if I am just dull-witted or whether these mysteries are just not written to be guessed by the reader but I never quite get it right. But that is a good thing. This book on the whole was about the same caliber as the others in the series. Entertaining - but ultimately forgettable.

I am now hooked on the series and will continue reading them. They are fairly well written albeit dated engaging reads. ( )

Got to remember that Wexford novels are not for binge reading. This was a solid one, with a nice solution that I didn't see coming, but reading two in a row like this really brings to light the flaws in this series. Very much in the vein of what Chandler decried about detective fiction (I'm mentioned this before, I think?), and Wexford is particularly obvious in his withholding from the audience all he knows. Too often the mystery is finally solved for the reader in an extended conversation between Wexford and Burden. Interesting, but tired. ( )