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.