Chief Inspector Reginald "Reg" Wexford is a recurring character in a series of detective novels by English crime writer Ruth Rendell. He made his first appearance in the author's

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

debut '' From Doon With Death'', and has since been the protagonist of 23 more novels (plus some short stories). In '' The Ruth Rendell Mysteries'' he was played by George Baker.

Character

In a 2013 interview, Rendell stated:

Wexford is a Liberal Democrat though, and I am a Labour party member, in fact a Labour peer, so I am further to the left than him.

Wexford is an intelligent, sensitive man. He has a placid wife, Dora, and two daughters, Sheila and Sylvia. He has a good relationship with Sheila (his favourite) but a difficult relationship with Sylvia (who feels slighted though he has never actually intended to slight her). He also has a strong friendship with DI Mike Burden.

Setting

The Wexford series of novels are set in "Kingsmarkham", a fictional town in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. Kingsmarkham has been reported as "inspired by Midhurst in West Sussex". Rendall says that Kingsmarkham "is not romantic at all, (with) ugly modern buildings, huge supermarkets, open car lots and bus garages, and sprawling blocks of local authority housing with the police station a concrete box of tricks amid the quiet crowded houses of High Street … a piece of gaudy litter in a pastoral glade and having modern furniture and (a) sleek, gleaming reception counter". (''Introducing Chief Inspector Wexford'' by Daniel Mallory; from 1990 Rendell interview with Marilyn Stasio)

Novels

#'' From Doon with Death'' (1964) #'' A New Lease of Death'' (1967) (known as ''Sins of the fathers'' in the US) #'' Wolf to the Slaughter'' (1968) #'' The Best Man to Die'' (1969) #'' A Guilty Thing Surprised'' (1970) #''

No More Dying Then ''No More Dying Then'' is a novel by the British crime-writer Ruth Rendell. It was first published in 1971, and is the sixth title in her popular Inspector Wexford Chief Inspector Reginald "Reg" Wexford is a recurring character in a series o ...

'' (1971) #'' Murder Being Done Once'' (1972) (known as ''Murder being once done'' in the US) #'' Some Lie And Some Die'' (1973) #'' Shake Hands Forever'' (1975) #'' A Sleeping Life'' (1978) #'' Put on By Cunning'' (1981) (known as ''Death notes'' in the US) #'' The Speaker of Mandarin'' (1983) #'' An Unkindness of Ravens'' (1985) #'' The Veiled One'' (1988) #'' Kissing the Gunner's Daughter'' (1992) #'' Simisola'' (1994) #'' Road Rage'' (1997) #'' Harm Done'' (1999) #'' The Babes in the Wood'' (2002) #'' End in Tears'' (2005) #'' Not in the Flesh'' (2007) #'' The Monster in the Box'' (2009) #'' The Vault'' (2011) #''

No Man's Nightingale ''No Man's Nightingale'' is a novel by crime writer Ruth Rendell published in 2013, It featuring her recurring protagonist Inspector Wexford. The novel is the second in which Wexford has appeared after his retirement, and on this occasion is call ...

'' (2013)

References

External links

Inspector Wexford
- celebrating the books, and the tv series. Book series introduced in 1964 Wexford, Reginald Characters in mystery novel series of the 20th century Literary characters introduced in 1964 British mystery novels British detective novels British novels by series Crime novel series Novels by Ruth Rendell British detective television series {{novel-char-stub