The Vault, Ruth Rendell
The Vault, Ruth Rendell
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Vault

Author: Ruth Rendell

Narrator: Steven Crossley

Unabridged: 8 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/13/2011


Synopsis

INCLUDES AN EXCERPT OF RENDELL’S FINAL NOVEL, DARK CORNERS

In the stunning climax to Rendell’s classic 1998 novel A Sight for Sore Eyes, three bodies—two dead, one living—are entombed in an underground chamber beneath a picturesque London house. Twelve years later, the house’s new owner pulls back a manhole cover, and discovers the vault—and its grisly contents. Only now, the number of bodies is four. How did somebody else end up in the chamber? And who knew of its existence?

With their own detectives at an impasse, London police call on former Kingsmarkham Chief Inspector Wexford, now retired and living with his wife in London, to advise them. Wexford, missing the thrill of a good case, jumps at the chance to sleuth once again. His dogged detective skills and knack for figuring out the criminal mind take him to London neighborhoods, posh and poor, as he follows a complex trail leading back to the original murders a decade ago.

But just as the case gets hot, a devastating family tragedy pulls Wexford back to Kingsmarkham, and he finds himself transforming from investigator into victim. Ingeniously plotted, The Vault is a “masterful” (The Seattle Times) sequel to A Sight for Sore Eyes that will satisfy both longtime Wexford fans and new Rendell readers alike.

About Ruth Rendell

Ruth Rendell (1930–2015) won three Edgar Awards, the highest accolade from Mystery Writers of America, as well as four Gold Daggers and a Diamond Dagger for outstanding contribution to the genre from England’s prestigious Crime Writ­ers’ Association. Her remarkable career spanned a half century, with more than sixty books published. A member of the House of Lords, she was one of the great literary figures of our time.


Reviews

Goodreads review by John on March 13, 2022

Wexford now a pensioner is asked by an old colleague to investigate four bodies found in a coal hole at Orcadia House. I enjoyed the story but do agree with other reviewers that in parts there is repetition and a few mistakes. Strange they were not picked up by an editor such as buying a single tick......more

Goodreads review by Philip on June 19, 2011

Wexford returns! For the first time, Ruth Rendell has written a sequel to a previous stand-alone novel (A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES), and added now-retired, former Chief-Inspector Wexford (now living part-time in London) to the proceedings as an 'adviser.' At the end of A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES there were thr......more

Goodreads review by Lewis on May 08, 2020

Disappointing ... an uninteresting case with uninteresting characters poorly told ... I only kept reading because of Rendell's excellent reputation and the fact that I had liked one of her earlier books ... I kept expecting more and it was never delivered......more

Goodreads review by Maxine on July 03, 2014

This book is a sequel to the author's "A Sight For Sore Eyes". Having just finished that, I snapped up The Vault next. The Vault offers a final chapter to the events of A Sight For Sore Eyes. Orcadia Cottage is once again the scene of a mystery--twelve years after the events that took place there pr......more

Goodreads review by Roberta on September 28, 2014

The Vault: Ruth Rendell’s sequel to A Sight for Sore Eyes A Sight for Sore Eyes came out in 1999. It is a novel of psychological suspense, not a police procedural – Reg Wexford does not appear in the narrative. Sight features one of the most genuinely frightening characters I’ve ever encountered in......more