Behind the picture-postcard façade of Kingsmarkham lies a community rife with violence, betrayal, and a taste for vengeance. When sixteen-year-old Lizzie Cromwell reappears no one knows where she has been, including Lizzie herself. Inspector Wexford thinks she was with a boyfriend. But the disappearance of a three-year-old girl casts a more ominous light on events. And when the public's outrage turns toward a recently released pederast and another suspect turns up stabbed to death, Wexford must try to unravel the mystery before any more bodies appear, and before a mob of local vigilantes metes out a rough justice to their least favorite suspect. In Harm Done, the violence is near at hand, and evil lies just a few doors down the block.
"It's no use trying to read Ruth Rendell's mind. You can follow her logic, analyze her insights and puzzle out her plots. But she'll always astonish you, as she does in Harm Done, with the emotional depth of her psychological mysteries." --The New York Times Book Review
"True to form, Rendell invites readers to experience a real touch of evil in Harm Done. . . . The plotting is as intricate, the creepiness quotient as high, as ever." --The Washington Post Book World
"Most satisfying. With her characterisitc elegance, Rendell has written another winner."--The Kansas City Star