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    The Vault
    The Vault
    The Vault
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Vault

    Written by Ruth Rendell

    Narrated by Steven Crossley

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateSep 13, 2011
    ISBN9781442341982
    Author

    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.

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    Reviews for The Vault

    3.5/5

    176 ratings10 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Reg Wexford has retired and he is enjoying some aspects of his new lifestyle, especially living part-time in the converted coach house in the grounds of his daughter’s north London home. He and his wife Dora enjoy the change of scenery from their home in Kingsmarkham and Wexford in particular has taken to having long walks around the city (Dora gets her exercise at a gym). However Wexford does miss being a policeman so when and old colleague, Tom Ede, asks him to act as a specialist advisor on a curly case Reg jumps at the opportunity. Four bodies have been discovered in the dis-used coal hole of a house in St John’s Wood; forensic evidence indicates 3 of the bodies have been there for about 12 years while the fourth has only been there for 2 years. Given the house has changed hands several times over this period police are somewhat baffled by the case, especially as there is not much to go on in the way of identification.

      In most crime fiction some suspension of disbelief is required and here it is that a senior policeman with all manner of resources at his disposal would need (or even consider) relying on a retired person for the resolution to a case however it is made just about believable when the prior relationship between the two is described as being something of a mentoring one. Stretching the credibility further though is the wide acceptance of Wexford by Ede’s younger subordinates, none of whom slow the slightest hint of being miffed at being lumbered with the ageing Wexford as interviewing partner/meddler. Such acceptance of the wisdom of the older person is certainly not my experience of the modern workplace.

      However, it’s not that hard to put this aside and become immersed in this gentle but satisfyingly complex tale complete with a nicely observed take on several aspects of modern life. One of the things I appreciated most about this book, and its predecessor, was the well-rounded sense we get of Wexford’s personal life including his various familial relationships and his friendship with his old colleague Mike Burden who he has a drink with each time he goes back to Kingsmarkham. A couple of years ago I read the very first Wexford book, From Doon with Death, and I was struck by how little of the personal side of the characters we saw. Clearly a lot has changed in the 40 years that Rendell has been writing this series. We see the gentle side of Wexford with his various grandchildren and also the distraught parent shines through when one of his daughters is severely injured. As far as the case goes Wexford struggles sometimes with having no official role, he even goes so far as to lament that he is not like the famous amateur detectives of fiction such as Hercule Poirot and Peter Wimsey. However, his imagination is captured by the puzzle of the case and I enjoyed the way he was depicted as figuring out various aspects of the problem, using new technology where appropriate and old-fashioned interviewing techniques when that was called for.

      Another thoroughly enjoyable aspect of the book is its presentation of London as something of a character in its own right. Via Wexford’s walks (and bus rides, taxi trips etc) we’re treated to an eclectic but quite delightful picture of the city. There are observations about particular buildings, the changes brought by waves of migration and the way a place can go from being a mansion to a slum (and back again) over time.

      There are things that don’t quite work about the novel too. The idea that a senior policeman could have retired within the last year or two having never sent an email seems utterly preposterous for example and the resolution of the case at the heart of the novel is a bit contrived. But the character studies and observations about the life of a newly retired man make up for these minor deficiencies and I can recommend this book to both fans of the series and those unfamiliar with the characters as you really don’t need to have read the rest of the novels to enjoy this one.

      I do have to say something about the editing though and not in the way that I usually do when I just want words cut out. Here the book is not too long but it is very poorly edited with names of characters being different in different places, information being repeated unnecessarily (we’re twice told in some detail about the layout of the coach house for example), a character talking of something before the fact is revealed in the narrative and several other errors. At first I thought it was me as I was listening to the book (superbly narrated by Nigel Anthony) but after laboriously re-listening to several passages I realised I had remembered properly and it was the book itself which contained the rather alarming number of errors.
    • 4/5
      Please make it just the latest, not the last, of Inspector Wexford's adventures. He is now fully retired, spending part of his time in London, and is asked to serve as a consultant on a particularly grisly murder. He does so, and makes some progress, but has to work entirely on his own after a singularly unpleasant character complains about his presence during an interview. Off he goes, with his usual acute readings of character, and acute ability to reimagine the past. He spends a good deal of time dealing with the inconveniences of not being official -- particularly having to find parking spaces, very funny -- but triumphs, somewhat damaged, by the end. Meanwhile, of course, his family affairs remain complex, with Sylvia in high form. I miss the old days, when the Inspector was the Inspector and could sit down in the Olive and Dove and go over things with Mike. Any Inspector Wexford, however, is better than none at all.
    • 4/5
      Four decomposed bodies are found in a vault under a manhole cover in the garden of Orcadia Cottage. Newly retired Reginald Wexford becomes a consultant for the case. Rendell creates a strong sense of place describing the neighborhoods of London. This mystery is a kind of sequel to Rendell's psychological novel A Sight for Sore Eyes.
    • 4/5
      What a pleasure to open a book by Ruth Rendell! Always high quality, always a wonderful mystery, always something to think about.
    • 4/5
      I am sad that we're getting to the end of Reg Wexford. I have been reading this series for many, many years, and I have always loved. it. In this book, Reg is newly retired, and he and his unflappable wife Dora are dividing their time between their house in Kingsmarkham and a converted carriage house in London. Reg has been enjoying his retirement, but does find that time sometimes hangs heavy on his hands. When he is asked by a former subordinate who is a DCI in London to help with a cold case he jumps at it. Four bodies are found in an underground culvert in the yard of an old and infamous house. And three of them had been there for at least 12 years. The fourth body had only been there for about two. It's difficult for Wexford to piece together who the bodies are, why they are there and why has one body only been there for two years. I found that a retired Wexford is just as enoyable as a full DCI Wexford. He's still as sharp as a tack and he uncannily knows People and what makes them tick. Ms. Rendell is a master novelist and no one can touch her in plot building; or in character building either for that matter. I really enjoyed this book and am sad to be coming to the end of Wexford's long and storied career.
    • 5/5
      This was my first Inspector Wexford book and it will not be my last. It held my interest and peaked my curiosity throughout. A retired inspector being asked to help the police on a tough and old case adds his experience and knowledge to the local police. He also has a few problems of his own to sort out. But all the twists and turns of the story keeps the readers attention until the very end.
    • 5/5
      When Wexford decides to take up Detective Superintendent Tom Ede's offer of being an unpaid serious crimes adviser to him at Cricklewood he really doesn't understand what that will mean. What he does think is that this will put some meaning back into his life. He is not yet ready for the scrapheap of retirement and there is only so much reading and walking that he can do.What he doesn't immediately see is that he is in essence powerless. He is no longer a policeman and really can't do anything like interview people without permission and without a police officer with him. What Tom Ede seems to need is another pair of eyes, and someone else to take on a little bit of the hack work, and to come up with some ideas of new directions to take. So in many senses Reg is not working with Tom, and add to that the fact that Tom's attention is divided by other cases under his supervision, and he doesn't seem to have the sense of urgency that Wexford expects.And then family life, problems for their daughter Sylvia, intervene into the Wexfords' retirement and life becomes a bit complicated. This sub-plot adds substance to the book and puts the main plot in perspective.For a while there, I thought Reg would never get it all sorted out, but in the long run serendipity, itself the result of Reg Wexford's urge to tie up loose ends, reveals the eventual answer.From what I have read, THE VAULT appears to be an extension of the plot of a stand alone A SIGHT FOR SORE EYES which Rendell published in 1998. I don't remember reading that book, although I probably did a decade or so ago. But I'm going to correct that soon, because I'm intrigued. It doesn't mean however that you can't read THE VAULT independently.Having retired myself less than a year ago, I was interested to see how Reg felt about it. I felt throughout the novel that Rendell is trying out a new role for Reg. I'm not sure that unpaid adviser to the police force is really for him.Not Rendell's best book, but fans will enjoy it.
    • 4/5
      The Vault is one of Ruth Rendell's "Inspector Wexford" novels. Reginald Wexford has retired from being a policeman and is kind of bored although he finds plenty of stuff to do. None of it really has any meaning for him. He is a good detective but he is not very dashing, athletic, and is the opposite of the tough guys we love so much in America.He gets a call from the police asking for his help on his case. They need the help really bad but not so bad as they are going to pay him or really give him any sort of official status or even cover his expenses. The case involves a hidden underground vault near a house where several bodies have been found. Several from over ten years ago and the latest just two years ago.The case is a real headscratcher and Wexford proceeds to work on it by talking to the present occupants of the house, neighbors, and others. He does it almost apologetically explaining to everybody that they don't really have to talk to him, but they do. He slowly starts piecing together what happens. The people he talk to are all characters, most of whom have secrets of their own, and are not necessarily that helpful, but they are helpful enough.In the meantime he has family drama to attend to. His daughter is involved in a love affair with a man half her age who really can't handle rejection and things really take a bad turn there. His daughter is hiding what really happened and he has to figure that story out while solving the police puzzle.I give this book four stars out of five. I love the interplay between Wexford's work on the case and his family life and all the different "difficult" characters he has to talk to, and the portayal of a mine trying to find some meaning in his life.Go to library and get this book! The Kindle edition is $12.99 which is way too much in my opinion.
    • 4/5
      In The Vault, Ruth Rendell introduces her longtime readers to a new world – one in which her beloved Inspector Wexford no longer has a policeman’s badge to flash. Wexford, now officially retired, wants to experience the things his long career left him so little time to explore. To that end, he and his wife are living on a London property belonging to their daughter, Sheila, from which Wexford plans to explore methodically all the London landmarks he has mostly only read about.During one of his long walks on the London streets, Wexford, who already misses his connection to the police, happens upon Detective Superintendent Tom Ede. The two had worked together for a short time when Ede was a young man, and Ede is still a bit in awe of Wexford’s crime-solving skills. Based on his brief experience with Wexford, and involved in a bizarre murder investigation that is going nowhere, Ede is rather eager to hire Wexford as his personal adviser on the case. Wexford, it turns out, is just as eager to accept the offer – despite there being no salary attached to the job.Thus begins Wexford’s efforts to identify the four bodies found in an old coal cellar that can only be accessed via a manhole cover located smack in the middle of the driveway of a fashionable London home. Wexford, despite his lack of authority and the waning support of D.S. Ede, doggedly moves from interview to interview even as the case begins to make less and less sense to him. The Vault reads like a traditional police procedural but, as Wexford eliminates one false lead after the other, the cast of suspects begins to blend together. The investigation, as such, does not make for compelling reading because much of what Wexford learns about the crime is based on chance or leaps of faith that somehow connect odd clues together. More interesting, to me at least, is the side plot involving his Kingsmarkham daughter, Sylvia, and her love affair gone bad. Wexford reacts to this threat to his daughter’s safety as any parent would, and finds himself spending as much time in Kingsmarkham as he does in London.The Vault will particularly appeal to Wexford fans wanting to see how the man eases his way into retirement, but it is probably not the best place to be introduced either to Rendell or to Wexford. It should also be noted that The Vault is a sequel (of sorts) to A Sight for Sore Eyes but that it works equally well as a standalone Wexford mystery.Rated at: 3.5
    • 5/5
      After all his years on the job, Reg Wexford has finally retired. He and Dora have turned the carriage house of actress-daughter Sheila's Hampstead home into a second home, keeping their house in Kingsmarkham. Wexford is enjoying retirement, especially walking around and exploring London, but he admits to himself that he misses police work.Enter Tom Ede, whom Reg had met years earlier when Ede was new to the Force. Now a Detective Superintendent in London, Ede asks Wexford to "consult" on a puzzling case.During an inspection prior to some home renovations, a couple living in an affluent part of the city found four bodies dumped in what used to be a coal storage hole.The staircase leading to the house from the hole was bricked over, and the outside entrance, a manhole cover, was also sealed. There's no identification on any of the bodies, though one of the two males has some fine jewellery in his pocket.As expected, Wexford becomes almost obsessed with the case, and keeps on digging after the police have essentially given up.As always, there is a second plotline involving Wexford's family. This time, daughter Sylvia has some complications with a romantic relationship.The Vault is the twenty-third book in the Chief Inspector Wexford series. The first book in the series, From Doon with Death, was published in 1964. That (if my English-major math is correct) is 47 years ago. As a result, many readers worldwide have have plenty of time to become familiar and comfortable with Reg Wexford, his family and colleagues.However, familiarity does not breed discontent here. Rendell's writing continues to be exceptional, and more Wexford novels are eagerly awaited by this reviewer!*Many thanks to the publisher for the e-galley!