The Monster in the Box

For decades, Chief Inspector Wexford has quietly suspected a man named Eric Targo of a series of apparently motiveless murders in and around Kingsmarkham, crimes that began when Wexford was still a young policeman. When Targo reappears in town after a long absence, the aging inspector finds his suspicions resurfacing alongside a parallel investigation into a Pakistani family's daughter and concerns about an arranged marriage. Ruth Rendell's twenty-second Wexford novel braids personal obsession with contemporary social tension.

Nicolas Coster narrates with the patient, deliberate quality that defines the Wexford series, conveying both the inspector's long-nursed certainty and his professional isolation as colleagues dismiss his hunches as fantasy. The domestic English setting and the novel's unhurried pace suit audio particularly well, where Coster's steady delivery allows the character psychology to accumulate its full weight. Listeners who have followed Wexford across the series will find the portrait of the aging detective especially affecting.