Ruth Rendell's new detective novel Put on by Cunning [is very pleasurable to read]. She is England's premier detective-thriller writer…. She excels in both fields, although personally I think her thrillers have individual standing that her highly accomplished detective fiction lacks.

Chief Inspector Wexford, Miss Rendell's familiar detective, is drawn into a case of accidental death when aged widower, Sir Manuel Camargue, a great flautist, dies ostensibly from falling into his pond one snowy night shortly before he is to marry a girl 50 years his junior. Foul play is not suspected by anyone except the bereaved fiancée. However, Wexford begins to think that the flautist's long estranged daughter might be other than what she seems and finds her repellently attractive. His superiors think he is wrong-headed and obsessive but Wexford bloodhounds his way out to California in the quest for truth. There is a marvellous surprise twist three-quarters of the way through involving an unexpected death that turn everything on its head. Although Miss Rendell does not cheat on the plotting—the clues are present to be picked up if you can (I could not)—there was little satisfaction for this reader in the identity of the murderer when unmasked.