title: Harm Done: An Inspector Wexford Mystery
author:  Ruth Rendell 
description: "Rendell's clear, shapely prose casts the mesmerizing spell of the confessional." --<i>The New Yorker</i><br /><br />"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 <b>Harm Done</b>, with the emotional depth of her psychological mysteries." --<i>The New York Times Book Review</i><br /><br />"True to form, Rendell invites readers to experience a real touch of evil in <b>Harm Done</b>. . . . The plotting is as intricate, the creepiness quotient as high, as ever." --<i>The Washington Post Book World</i><br /><br />"Most satisfying. With her characterisitc elegance, Rendell has written another winner."--<i>The Kansas City Star</i>
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  # The Safety Match
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Anton Chekhoff
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  I
  
  
  II
  
  
  
  
  
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  ### I
  
  
  
  
  
    
  On the morning of October 6, 1885, in the office of the Inspector
  
  
  of Police of the second division of S—— District, there appeared a
  
  
  respectably dressed young man, who announced that his master, Marcus
  
  
  Ivanovitch Klausoff, a retired officer of the Horse Guards, separated
  
  
  from his wife, had been murdered. While making this announcement the
  
  
  young man was white and terribly agitated. His hands trembled and his
  
  
  eyes were full of terror.
  
  
    
  "Whom have I the honor of addressing?" asked the inspector.
  
  
    
  "Psyekoff, Lieutenant Klausoff's agent; agriculturist and
  
  
  mechanician!"
  
  
    
  The inspector and his deputy, on visiting the scene of the
  
  
  occurrence in company with Psyekoff, found the following: Near the
  
  
  wing in which Klausoff had lived was gathered a dense crowd. The 