Babes in the Woods by Ruth Rendell

I read this with enthusiasm, but have some reservations.  The character who was the victim didn’t seem plausible; I had a similar problem with the parents of the two missing teenagers, the mother was relentlessly hysterical, the father mindlessly mean.  And I kept wondering why the inspector failed to ask some important questions.  The setting, the countryside outside London during a long period of flooding rain was of interest, and the inspector, Wexford, an appealing character.