7.2 /10 1 Votes
Country United Kingdom Series Inspector Wexford # 21 Pages 372 pp Followed by The Monster in the Box | 3.6/5 Language English Publication date 2007 Originally published 2007 Preceded by End in Tears | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Genres Fiction, Crime Fiction, Suspense, Mystery Publishers Hutchinson (UK), Crown Publishing Group (US) Similar Ruth Rendell books, Crime Fiction books |
Not in the Flesh is 2007 novel by British crime-writer Ruth Rendell. The novel is the 21st entry in the Inspector Wexford series.
Plot summary
Searching for truffles in a wood, a man and his dog unearth something less savoury - a human hand. The body, as Chief Inspector Wexford is informed later, has lain buried for ten years or so, wrapped in a purple cotton shroud. The post mortem cannot reveal the precise cause of death. The only clue is a crack in one of the dead man's ribs. Although it covers a relatively short period of time, the police computer stores a long list of missing persons. Men, women and children disappear at an alarming rate, something like 500 every day nationwide. So Wexford knows he is going to have a job on his hands to identify the corpse. And then, only about twenty yards away from the woodland burial site, in the cellar of a disused cottage, another body is found. The detection skills of Wexford, Burden and the other investigating officers of the Kingsmarkham Police Force are tested to the utmost to discover whether the murders are connected and to track down whoever is responsible.