Ruth Rendell: No Man's Nightingale (USA 2014)

From the Publisher:
From "one of the most remarkable novelists of her generation" (People) a "refined, probing, and intelligent" (USA TODAY) mystery in the masterful Inspector Wexford series... more enthralling than ever after fifty years.

A female vicar named Sarah Hussein is discovered strangled in her Kingsmarkham vicarage. A single mother to a teenage girl, Hussein was working in a male-dominated profession. Moreover, she was of mixed race and wanted to modernize the church. Could racism or sexism have played a factor in her murder?

Maxine, the gossipy cleaning woman who discovered the body, happens to also be in the employ of retired Chief Inspector Wexford and his wife. Wexford is intrigued by the unusual circumstances of the murder, and when he is invited by his old deputy to tag along with the investigators, he leaps at the chance.

As Wexford searches the Vicar's house, he sees a book on her bedside table. Inside the book is a letter serving as a bookmark. Without thinking much, Wexford puts it into his pocket. Wexford soon realizes he has made a grave error in removing a piece of valuable evidence from the scene without telling anybody. Yet what he finds inside begins to illuminate the murky past of Sarah Hussein. Is there more to her than meets the eye?

No Man's Nightingale is Ruth Rendell's masterful twenty-fourth installment in one of the great crime series of all time, an "absorbing and rewarding" (Seattle Times) mystery that explores issues of sexism, class, and racism. As Stephen King said: "No one surpasses Ruth Rendell."

Ruth Rendell: No Man's Nightingale. An Inspector Wexford Novel. Scribner's, ISBN 9781476747132 (October, 2014), 304 p., $16.00.

Ruth Rendell: No Man's Nightingale (UK 2014)

From the Publisher:
No Man's Nightingale: the eagerly anticipated twenty-fourth title in Ruth Rendell's bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series.
The woman vicar of St Peter's Church may not be popular among the community of Kingsmarkham. But it still comes as a profound shock when she is found strangled in her vicarage.

Inspector Wexford is retired, but he retains a relish for solving mysteries especially when they are as close to home as this one is.

So when he's asked whether he will assist on the case, he readily agrees.

But why did the vicar die? And is anyone else in Kingsmarkham in danger?

What Wexford doesn't know is that the killer is far closer than he, or anyone else, thinks.

Ruth Rendell: No Man's Nightingale. An Inspector Wexford Novel. Arrow, ISBN 9780099585855 (July, 2014), 342 p., £7.99.

Ruth Rendell: No Man's Nightingale (USA 2013)

From the Publisher:
From crime legend Ruth Rendell, the gripping new novel in her "beloved" (USA Today) Inspector Wexford series, which will soon mark its fiftieth anniversary
A female vicar named Sarah Hussain is discovered strangled in her Kingsmarkham vicarage. Maxine, the gossipy cleaning woman who finds the body, happens to also be in the employ of former Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford and his wife. When called on by his old deputy, Wexford, who has taken to reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire as a retirement project, leaps at the chance to tag along with the investigators. Wexford is intrigued by the unusual circumstances of the murder, but he's also desperate to escape the chatty Maxine.

A single mother to a teenage girl, Hussain was a woman working in a male-dominated profession. Of mixed race and an outspoken church reformer, she had turned some in her congregation against her, including the conservative vicar's warden. Could one of her enemies in the church have gone so far as to kill her? Or could it have been the elderly next-door gardener with a muddled alibi?

As Wexford searches the vicar's house alongside the police, he sees a book, Newman's Apologia Pro Vita Sua, lying on Hussain's bedside table. Inside it is a letter serving as a bookmark. Without thinking much, Wexford puts it into his pocket. Wexford soon realizes he has made a grave error -- he's removed a piece of evidence from the crime scene. Yet what he finds inside begins to illuminate the murky past of Sarah Hussain. Is there more to her than meets the eye?

No Man's Nightingale is Ruth Rendell's masterful twenty-fourth installment in one of the great crime series of all time.

Ruth Rendell: No Man's Nightingale. An Inspector Wexford Novel. Scribner's, ISBN 9781476744483 (November, 2013), 275 p., $26.00, eBook $13.99.

Ruth Rendell: No Man's Nightingale (UK 2013)

From the Publisher:
No Man's Nightingale: the eagerly anticipated twenty-fourth title in Ruth Rendell's bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series.
Sarah Hussain was not popular with many people in the community of Kingsmarkham. She was born of mixed parentage - a white Irishwoman and an immigrant Indian Hindu. She was also the Reverend of St Peter's Church.

But it comes as a profound shock to everyone when she is found strangled in the Vicarage.

A garrulous cleaner, Maxine, also shared by the Wexfords, discovers the body. In his comparatively recent retirement, the former Detective Chief Inspector is devoting much time to reading, and is deep into Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He has little patience with Maxine's prattle.

But when his old friend Mike Burden asks if he might like to assist on this case as Crime Solutions Adviser (unpaid), Wexford is obliged to pay more precise attention to all available information.

The old instincts have not been blunted by a life where he and Dora divide their time between London and Kingsmarkham. Wexford retains a relish for solving puzzles and a curiosity about people which is invaluable in detective work.

For all his experience and sophistication, Burden tends to jump to conclusions. But he is wise enough to listen to the man whose office he inherited, and whose experience makes him a most formidable ally.

Ruth Rendell: No Man's Nightingale. An Inspector Wexford Novel. Hutchinson, ISBN 9780091953843 (August, 2013), 280 p., £18.99, eBook £6.99.