From Doon With Death — Ruth Rendell

Margaret Parsons isn't the type to surprise anyone, especially not her husband. So when he finds the house empty one evening, he panics. She's always been there when he gets home -- puttering in the garden or standing at the stove fixing him a chop for his dinner.

Inspector Burden tells him not to worry. But when Margaret is still missing the next morning, even the police become alarmed. For his part, Chief Inspector Wexford thinks she must have bolted with some man.

Mr. Parsons insists she isn't that type. Then her body is found, strangled and abandoned in a nearby wood. And poor Mr. Parsons must let the police into his home, where a startling discovery will lead everyone to wonder just what type Margaret Parsons was....