The provided text consists of excerpts from Ruth Rendell's novel, "Shake Hands Forever," which is a mystery featuring Inspector Wexford. The first part offers critical acclaim for Rendell's writing, praising her elegance, mastery of storytelling, and insight into human nature. The main body of the excerpts details a police investigation led by Chief Inspector Wexford into the murder of Angela Hathall, focusing on the complex relationships between the victim, her husband Robert Hathall, his unforgiving mother, his ex-wife, and various other suspects like Hathall's cousin, Mark Somerset, and the flirtatious neighbor, Nancy Lake. The narrative tracks the police's frustrating efforts to find the killer, ultimately revealing that Angela had actually murdered her husband's accomplice in a pay-roll fraud and staged the crime as her own death before attempting to flee the country.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.