This was my Boxing Day read, Wolf to the Slaughter from Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford series.  This is an engaging mystery with a plot liberally sprinkled with suspects and clues.  It begins with a missing woman, who based on an unsigned note is assumed to be dead.  Wexford and his team investigate pursuing leads that take them all over the area.  One of his team has a personal story line that is tied into the mystery case but that is the closest the reader really gets to knowing anything personal about the detectives here.

This is one of the earliest Ruth Rendell books and perhaps her style changes over time, but for this book there is not much character development.  Wexford comes across to me as a bit of a cold fish, but I am assuming that changes as the reader gets to know him through the development of the series.  The focus in this particular book is more on the police procedural elements.  I will probably come back to this series in the future but I’m not in a particular hurry to do so.