Not in the Flesh

Searching for truffles in a wood, a man and his dog unearth something less savoury a human hand. he 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 can not reveal the precise cause of death. The only clue is a crack in one of the dead man's ribs. lthough it covers a relatively short period of time, the computer stores a long list of Missing Persons. Men, women and children disappear at an alarming rate, nationwide something like 500 every day. So Wexford knows he is going to have a job on his hands to identify the corpse. nd then, only about twenty yards away from the woodland burial site, in the cellar of a disused cottage, another body is discovered. he 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. Ruth Rendell's books are not only whodunits but whydunits, uncovering the motive roots of murder' Mail on Sunday