No More Dying Then

On a February afternoon, little Stella Rivers disappeared and was never seen again. All that remained was that cold fear and dread that touched everyone in town. In October, when the disappearance of five-year old John Lawrence was followed by evil, mad, taunting letters, Wexford summoned all his knowledge and resources to prevent another tragedy. But still he came up with nothing. Now, fighting against time and a growing sense of failure, he would have to start again.

What kind of a person would kidnap two children?
That is the question that haunts Wexford when a five-year-old boy and a twelve-year-old girl disappear from the village of Kingsmarkham. When a child's body turns up at an abandoned country home one search turns into a murder investigation and the other turns into a race against time. Filled with pathos and terror, passion, bitterness, and loss, No More Dying Then is Rendell at her most chillingly astute.
With her Inspector Wexford novels, Ruth Rendell, winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award, has added layers of depth, realism and unease to the classic English mystery. For the canny, tireless, and unflappable policeman is an unblinking observer of human nature, whose study has taught him that under certain circumstances the most unlikely people are capable of the most appalling crimes.