Book description
The third book to feature the classic crime-solving detective, Chief
Inspector Wexford.
Anita Margolis has vanished. Dark and exquisite, Anita's character
is as mysterious as her disappearance.
There was no body, no crime - nothing more concrete than an
anonymous letter and the intriguing name of Smith. According to
headquarters, it wasn't to be considered a murder enquiry at all.
With the letter providing them with only one questionable lead to
follow, Wexford and his sidekick Inspector Burden are compelled to
make enquiries. They soon discover Anita is wealthy, flighty, and
thoroughly immoral. The straight-laced Burden has a very clear idea of
what happened to her. But Wexford has his own suspicions...
Ruth Rendell is crime writing at its very best. The author of over
50 novels, she has won many significant crime fiction awards. Her
first novel, From Doon With Death, appeared in 1964, and since
then her reputation and readership have grown steadily with each new
book.
She has received major awards for her work; three Edgars from the
Mystery Writers of America; the Crime Writers' Gold Dagger Award for
1976's best crime novel, A Demon in My View; the Arts Council
National Book Award for Genre Fiction in 1981 for The Lake of
Darkness; the Crime Writer's Gold Dagger Award for 1986's best
crime book for Live Flesh; in 1987 the Crime Writer's Gold
Dagger Award for A Fatal Inversion and in 1991 the same award
for King Solomon's Carpet, both written under the pseudonym
Barbara Vine; the Sunday Times Literary Award in 1990; and in
1991 the Crime Writer's Cartier Diamond Award for outstanding
contribution to the crime fiction genre.
Her books are translated into 21 languages. In 1996 she was awarded
the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer.
