From Doon with Death: The First Inspector Wexford Mystery

From Doon with Death: The First Inspector Wexford Mystery

Dazzling psychological suspense. Razor-sharp dialogue. Plots that catch and hold like a noose. These are the hallmarks of crime legend Ruth Rendell, €œthe best mystery writer in the English-speaking world€ (<i>Time</i> magazine). <i>From Doon with Death</i>, now in a striking new paperback edition, is her classic debut novel -- and the book that introduced one of the most popular sleuths of the twentieth century.<br><br>There is nothing extraordinary about Margaret Parsons, a timid housewife in the quiet town of Kingsmarkham, a woman devoted to her garden, her kitchen, her husband. Except that Margaret Parsons is dead, brutally strangled, her body abandoned in the nearby woods. <br><br>Who would kill someone with nothing to hide? Inspector Wexford, the formidable chief of police, feels baffled -- until he discovers Margaret's dark secret: a trove of rare books, each volume breathlessly inscribed by a passionate lover identified only as Doon. As Wexford delves deeper into both Mrs. Parsons€ past and the wary community circling round her memory like wolves, the case builds with relentless momentum to a surprise finale as clever as it is blindsiding. <br><br>In <i>From Doon with Death</i>, Ruth Rendell instantly mastered the form that would become synonymous with her name. Chilling, richly characterized, and ingeniously constructed, this is psychological suspense at its very finest.<br><br>€œOne of the most remarkable novelists of her generation.€ €"<i>People<br></i><br>€œShe has transcended her genre by her remarkable imaginative power to explore and illuminate the dark corners of the human psyche.€ €"P.D. James