Some Lie and Some Die (25 page)

‘Poor old Dunsand. What of him?’

‘His career will be ruined, but it won’t be prison for him. Mental hospital for years? Is that much better? It was a succubus he killed. Unfortunately for him, we know succubi don’t exist—they’re flesh and blood.’

A single light showed in Burden’s bungalow. In an armchair in the living room John lay asleep, his hair tousled, a half-empty glass of milk beside him. The indicator light on the record player still glowed red.

‘God, I forgot the kids! I was so carried away I forgot them.’ Burden stooped tenderly over his son, but the boy didn’t stir. ‘He waited up for me,’ he said wonderingly.

Wexford smiled rather sadly. ‘Poor John. Somehow I don’t think he’ll get the Sundays album for his birthday now.’

‘He certainly won’t.’ Burden took a stride to the record player, his face flushing with anger when he saw what lay on the turntable. Savagely, he seized ‘Let-me-believe’ in both hands and seemed about to twist it, to bend it double, when Wexford laid a gentle, warning hand on his arm.

‘No, Mike,’ he said. ‘Don’t do that. Leave it to John and—and all of them. Let them be his judges.’

“Mystery writing of the highest order … durable,
complex, and affectingly human.”
—
The New York Times Book Review

MURDER BEING ONCE DONE

The ailing Wexford is in London for a rest cure—one that deprives him of alcohol, rich food, and, above all, police work—when a young girl is found murdered in a gloomy nearby cemetery. The authorities, commanded by Wexford’s nephew, can’t find out who the victim was: the dead girl has no possessions, no past, and a name that seems patently false. And so Wexford defies doctors orders and the big-city condescension of the London police to take a look for himself.

Crime Fiction/0-375-70488-4

NO MORE DYING THEN

Years as a policeman in the placid village of Kingsmarkham have taught Inspector Wexford that the most unlikely people are capable of the most appalling crimes. But what kind of person would steal—and possibly murder—two children? Wexford’s search is complicated when his colleague falls in love with the mother of one of the missing youngsters.

Crime Fiction/0-375-70489-2

SOME LIE AND SOME DIE

In spite of the dire predictions, the rock festival at Sundays seems to be going off without a hitch. Then a hideously disfigured body is discovered in a nearby quarry, and Inspector Wexford must ask how an event devoted to peace and idealism could become the setting for a murder. The victim is a distinctly unglamourous local girl who lied about her friendships with celebrities. But she had a very real connection with the festival’s charismatic star, a singer who inspires an unwholesome devotion in his followers.

Crime Fiction/0-375-70490-6

VINTAGE CRIME/BLACK LIZARD
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