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Cold case

Customer Rating:
Reg Wexford is one of the good guys in English crime fiction. Humane and genuine, he has managed to avoid become jaded during the course of his long career. In Not in the Flesh, Wexford and his capable staff must grapple with the discovery of not one, but two, long dead bodies, in a secluded little village. There is no dearth of suspects among the eccentric, somewhat reclusive inhabitants. A compelling subplot centers upon the practice of female genital mutilation among England's Somali immigrant population. While this custom is against British law, many Somali families nevertheless find secretive ways to modify the bodies of their daughters. Wexford's daughter appeals to her father to help stem the practice.
It is a pleasure to follow Wexford and his team as they, first, ferret out clues to crimes that occurred, in secret, a decade ago. Secondly, they must fit the disparate pieces into a coherent pattern, despite their certain knowledge that many of their interview subjects are less than truthful. The resolution of these plots relies upon coincidence in places, but the writing and the characterizations are so sharp that it's worth overlooking that factor. Careful attention is required to follow the twists and turns of this investigation.

nOT IN THE FLESH

Customer Rating:
Still quality writing I've come to expect from Ruth Rendell. No surprise (to me) ending that she sometimes gives. A good read.

vintage

Customer Rating:
It had been some time since I'd read a Ruth Rendell or a Barbara Vine (she is so prolific I get mixed up - which have I read yet and which haven't I)? I thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan to go back now and catch up with a few books I know I've missed.

This book was all the more enjoyable to me because the much-ballyhooed book I'd brought with me to read on vacation in the Netherlands was a huge disappointment...overwritten and boring. So I was forced to scour the English-language shelves of the local stores where I found Not in the Flesh. So glad I did. May Ms. Rendell continue to entertain us with her writing for a few more decades.

In the Flesh

Customer Rating:
You can't go wrong with a Ruth Rendell novel. The Inspector Wexford stories are first rate.

Excellent

Customer Rating:
What a shame that another reviewer did not bother to read Rendell's account of female genital mutilation as written in this book. It is well-known in the UK that Baroness Rendell is a long term campaigner against the practice. In this book she introduces the subject in an enormously sensitive way and is able to get across not only the horror of it, but also the reasons many people from Africa believe in doing it to their daughters. It's worth reading the book for the mystery, as described by others, but don't gloss over the tiny sub-plot with FGM in it. You might learn something.

That said, the book is excellent, as are all Rendell's books. Excellent writing, good characterisation, and a good plot that is all tied together in the end. I particularly liked the introduction of the woman writing a book about her long-missing father, and the gifts she had inherited from him became clear as the story went on. Thank you Baroness Rendell for publicising FGM in your book, and please keep on doing so for the sake of our sisters around the world.