Murder Being Once Done

Chief Inspector Wexford is supposed to be resting in London, under strict doctor's orders, when his nephew Howard calls him in to consult on a murder in Kenbourne Cemetery: a young woman's body, abandoned among the gravestones with no obvious explanation. Wexford cannot resist, and his sideways involvement in the investigation gradually reveals that the victim's connection to a religious cult conceals a history of abuse that the cult's leader will do anything to keep buried.

George Baker narrates the Wexford series with the sturdy authority of someone who has inhabited the character for years — his voice gives the Chief Inspector's particular quality of patient, unconventional reasoning a natural home. At just under three hours, Murder Being Once Done is one of the shorter Wexford entries, but Rendell's efficiency means the abbreviated runtime contains a complete and satisfying mystery.