The Babes in the Wood

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This article is about the Ruth Rendell novel. For other uses, see Babes in the Wood (disambiguation).


The Babes in the Wood
First edition cover
Author	Ruth Rendell
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Inspector Wexford #19
Genre(s)	Crime novel
Publisher	Hutchinson
Publication date	2002
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	323 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 0091794463 (first edition, hardback)
Preceded by	Adam and Eve and Pinch Me
Followed by	The Rottweiler

The Babes in the Wood is a 2002 novel by British crime-writer Ruth Rendell. It is the 19th entry in the popular Inspector Wexford series, and is set, as usual, in Kingsmarkham. The novel received somewhat of a luke-warm response from both fans and newcomers alike, and is thought of by many as one of the weaker novels in the series. This view, however, is by no means universal: when the book was published in the US in 2003, it was selected by the New York Times as one of the top five crime novels of the year.

[edit] Plot Summary

During a month of non-stop rain of near-Biblical proportions, two young children and their babysitter vanish. Wexford's investigation finds possible links to a local Christian church. Wexford states that Christians care only about sexual sin and do not care about violence or even murder. One of the main characters is "cured" of their Christianity.

Edit: Wexford is not speaking of all Christians, but of the priorities of a particular fanatical church group which has covered up the murder of a woman who was sexually exploiting a teenage boy. The main character referred to is 'cured' of a fanatical and judgemental branch of Christianity. These two sentences appear to have been written by a disgruntled Christian. As Baroness Rendell is a Christian herself it is unlikely that she intended criticism of the religion as a whole.