Search - The Babes in the Wood (Chief Inspector Wexford, Bk 19)

In the midst of severe flooding, two young teens (13 and 15 years old) and their caretaker go missing from their home in a small city in England while their parents are away for a few days. Their mother insists that they have drowned and the local police accommodate by calling in Subaqua, a team of underwater searchers. Chief Inspector Wexford believes the drowning theory is flawed but his superior officer insists on focusing resources on it and nowhere else.

Thus time is wasted that could be spent doing a more fruitful search.

Initially, Wexford suspects that the caretaker, Joanna Troy, has for some reason abducted the teens. His investigation centers on who she is and what she has done in the past. He also is interested in young Giles Dade, the 15-year-old teen, and his conversion to an odd fundamentalist church. But his work is cut out for him as he encounters character after character who do not seem to be telling the truch.

As is typical with Rendell books, we are treated to a wide range of persons and motives for their actions. We also get to know Wexell's feelings about his own daughters and their choices of mates, as these stories do not stay only with the case.

All three missing persons are found and a case of possible murder is developed.

Eventually Wexell threads his way through and puts it all together and the right persons are arrested. But only after getting inside many people and getting to understand why they do what they do. Rendell has a deep understanding of psychology and does not stick with simple characters. Each book adds to our understanding of Wexell as well as of human nature in general.