'I just know,' said Chief Inspector Wexford. 'I know what you thought and I know what you did.' What connects a kidnapped baby, a woman's body left to rot in a cove in Yugoslavia, a suspicious suicide and the century-old case of a wife who poisons her husband? The answer: Wexford. In the first of five cases, Wexford is brought in to deal with a distraught mother whose baby girl has been swapped with an unknown baby boy. When a local priest discovers the missing baby, safe and sound, on the church steps, the hunt for the missing girl is quickly over. Mother and daughter are happily reunited, but the mystery of the baby boy remains unsolved. Then Wexford discovers Paddy Jasper has returned to Kingsmarkham, a man previously investigated by Wexford for violently abusing a child. Now Wexford fears the next reunion may not be as happy as the last.

'Full of ideas . as a page-turner there are few who can match Ruth' Colin Dexter A WEXFORD CASE Chief Inspector Wexford is one of the most memorable detectives ever created. Ruth Rendell's timeless Wexford novels continue to intrigue, enthral and surprise readers time and time again.