8-Evil-Duos_Article_Dead-Good

Reading lists

The 8 most evil duos in fiction

Best long-running mystery and detective book series

100 best crime books

100 best crime books of all time, as chosen by our readers

A Judgement In Stone

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND CRIME LEGEND DONNA LEON 
 
'One of her masterpieces' 
TELEGRAPH 
 
'A classic' 
THE TIMES 
 
'Quite possibly the best crime book I have ever read' 
READER REVIEW 
 
'Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write.' 
 
Eunice, the Coverdales' housekeeper, guns down four of her employers in the space of fifteen minutes one Valentine's Day. None of them suspected anything. Her motive remained hidden. 
 
As the police investigate, Eunice schemes to escape the blame - desperate to preserve the terrible secret of her illiteracy. 
 
But Eunice's blindness to a crucial aspect of the world throws her plans into jeopardy . . .

Ruth Rendell was an exceptional crime writer, and will be remembered as a legend in her own lifetime. Her groundbreaking debut novel, From Doon With Death, was first published in 1964 and introduced the reader to her enduring and popular detective, Inspector Reginald Wexford, who went on to feature in twenty-four of her subsequent novels. 
 
With worldwide sales of approximately 20 million copies, Rendell was a regular Sunday Times bestseller. Her sixty bestselling novels include police procedurals, some of which have been successfully adapted for TV, stand-alone psychological mysteries, and a third strand of crime novels under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Very much abreast of her times, the Wexford books in particular often engaged with social or political issues close to her heart. 
 
Rendell won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers&rsquo; Association Gold Dagger for 1976&rsquo;s best crime novel with A Demon in My View, a Gold Dagger award for Live Flesh in 1986, and the Sunday Times Literary Award in 1990. In 2013 she was awarded the Crime Writers&rsquo; Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer. 
 
Ruth Rendell died in May 2015. Her final novel, Dark Corners, was published in October 2015.

Seven full-cast dramatisations

The Ruth Rendell BBC Radio Drama Collection

Seven full-cast dramatisations of psychological thrillers from the ever-popular Ruth Rendell

Full-cast dramatisations of seven of Ruth Rendell's tense psychological thrillers. 
 
This collection includes: 
 
Tracks 1-2 - The Bridesmaid: A beautiful stone statue and her living double lead Philip into a nightmare of obsession and murder. 
 
Tracks 3-4 - Going Wrong: Besotted with his childhood sweetheart, Leonora, psychopathic Guy Curran will do anything to make her his. 
 
Tracks 5 - 8 King Solomon’s Carpet: London’s Underground links a group of misfit housemates and is the catalyst for a devastating crime in this compelling tale, written under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. 
 
Track 9 - People Don’t Do Such Things: A suburban couple befriend a charismatic novelist, but their relationship soon slips into sinister territory. 
 
Track 10 - The Fever Tree: On safari in South Africa, Ford and Tricia find the tensions in their marriage exacerbated by the unforgiving wilderness. 
 
Track 11 - The Dreadful Day of Judgment: Clearing up an abandoned cemetery, John, Gilly and Marlon’s personal demons come to the fore. 
 
Track 12 - Thornapple: Poison enthusiast James becomes captivated by the ruthless Meribel on a visit to her wealthy aunt. 
 
Among the casts of these seven suspenseful adaptations are Jamie Glover, Mark Strong, Reece Shearsmith, Paul Rhys, Danny Sapani and Juliet Aubrey.

Dark Corners

A brilliantly dark and sinister novel of psychological suspense by Ruth Rendell, ‘unequivocally the most brilliant crime-writer of our time’ (Patricia Cornwell).

Her absence is keenly felt. But we do have this mesmeric book . . . It’s a felicitous last hurrah for Rendell

It enjoyably and honourably concludes Rendell's six decades of exploring the death force that, as her last book demonstrates, may be triggered in unexpected people and places. - Mark Lawson

Dark Corners is written in a deceptively simple manner, and at times it reads like a twisted fairytale. It leaves an uneasiness behind like a dark stain on the consciousness . . . The violence of Dark Corners is the violence that stems from the mundane and the ordinary, and it is all the more frightening because of that.

Everything that makes Rendell's work so memorable - gothic but believable people and plots, simple yet vivid prose, peerlessly rendered settings, and fear and despair as the twin ‘parents’ of violence - is in evidence here.

Another of Rendell’s penetrating studies of ordinary people trapped in extraordinary circumstances . . . her countless admirers will seize on it with delight.

Cunningly wrought . . . a triumph . . . the ending is perfect – a fitting full stop at the end of a great career.

From the impressive variety of tones and styles to which she had access as a writer, Rendell chose for Dark Corners black comedy that echoes Muriel Spark . . . [Dark Corners] enjoyably and honourably concludes Rendell's six decades of exploring the death force that, as her last book demonstrates, may be triggered in unexpected people and places.

The late Ruth Rendell put a permanent stamp on crime fiction with 65 novels of screw-twisting suspense, written under both her own name and the pseudonym Barbara Vine. The posthumously published DARK CORNERS is a worthy final entry in her body of work

It’s a Rendell ‘stand-alone’ – a pitch-black thriller.

A gripping story . . . You will feel the authentic Rendell prickle of fear as you realise how easily a mis-step could plunge you into a situation like [the protagonist’s].

Dark Corners is compulsively readable and involving . . . [Rendell] had a superb gift for understanding and unsettling her legion of fans with her spare, elegant prose.

Not once does Rendell let up on the tension. This, her last book, is a triumph

As hard-edged as ever. A brooding, claustrophobic mystery

This is the innocent-seeming start of a journey into the very darkest recesses of the human mind; for such a nice woman, Rendell had an amazing empathy with psychotic killers. Dark Corners is Rendell at her incomparable best; talk about going out in style!

Rendell was a prolific and hugely popular writer of intricately plotted mystery novels that combined psychological insight, social conscience and, not infrequently, teeth-chattering terror.

Rendell was unequivocally the most brilliant mystery writer of our time.

When many of the literary novelists of our time are forgotten, Ruth Rendell’s books will remain, and future generations will see that not only did she keep her readers on tenterhooks with every book, she also wrote stories which held up a mirror to her times.

Rendell’s work, mapping the manic and malevolent extremes of human behaviour, was distinguished by terse yet elegant prose and sharp psychological insights.

Rendell’s novels have been a major force in lifting crime writing out of genre fiction and into both cutting-edge and mainstream literature.

Ruth Rendell: one of the all-time greats.

Every aspect of Ruth Rendell’s dark art is splendidly showcased in Dark Corners. One can’t say she saved the best for last, because a great many books by Ms Rendell and her alter ego Barbara Vine are so splendid, but it’s among the best. You won’t put it down. I loved it.

Rendell set an extraordinarily high benchmark in crime fiction that continued throughout her long career. She is revered by all who came after her.

Rendell transformed what had become a staid and formulaic genre into a different kind of crime novel. She turned it into a prism for examining the world around her with a critical eye.

Ruth Rendell was an exceptional crime writer, and will be remembered as a legend in her own lifetime. Her groundbreaking debut novel, From Doon With Death, was first published in 1964 and introduced the reader to her enduring and popular detective, Inspector Reginald Wexford, who went on to feature in twenty-four of her subsequent novels. 
 
With worldwide sales of approximately 20 million copies, Rendell was a regular Sunday Times bestseller. Her sixty bestselling novels include police procedurals, some of which have been successfully adapted for TV, stand-alone psychological mysteries, and a third strand of crime novels under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Very much abreast of her times, the Wexford books in particular often engaged with social or political issues close to her heart. 
 
Rendell won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger for 1976’s best crime novel with A Demon in My View, a Gold Dagger award for Live Flesh in 1986, and the Sunday Times Literary Award in 1990. In 2013 she was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer. 
 
Ruth Rendell died in May 2015. Her final novel, Dark Corners, was published in October 2015.

A tragic accident. A blackmail plot. A house of cards. 
And murder. 
 
In his late father's house, Carl finds a hoard of pills, 'wonder drugs' and herbal remedies. He sells a box of slimming pills to his close friend Stacey. 
 
She dies. 
 
And Carl's new tenant is now scheming to blackmail him, imposing more and more demands on an increasingly unstable Carl, pushing him to the point of no return... 
_________________________ 
 
Ruth Rendell's final novel is a dark and atmospheric tale of psychological suspense, full of mistaken identity, kidnap, blackmail, and a cast of normal people driven to do abnormal things. Infused with her distinctive blend of wry humour, acute observation and deep humanity, this is Rendell at her most memorable and best.

The Keys To The Street

The 20th anniversary edition of one of Ruth Rendell's best loved crime novels.

London's wealthiest, poorest, kindest and most dangerous citizens all cross paths in Regent's Park. All it takes to bring them together is a series of brutally gruesome murders... 
 
Mary Jago has donated her bone marrow to save the life of a complete stranger; a generous act of kindness that culminates in a horrible break-up with her abusive boyfriend. 
 
Moving to the affluent edge of London's famous Regent's Park, Mary believes she has finally escaped the threat of violence. She never thought that one simple act of kindness could put her own life in mortal danger…

The Girl Next Door

The dazzling new novel from Ruth Rendell. When the bones of two severed hands are discovered in a box, an investigation into a long buried crime of passion begins. And a group of friends, who played together as children, begin to question their past.

In all her novels, multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell digs deep beneath the surface to investigate the secrets of the human psyche and The Girl Next Door is no exception. This compelling and captivating mystery, with its taut plotting and spine-tingling twists and turns is perfect for fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon. 
 
'This novel reminded me of the singularity of Ruth Rendell's talent, her effortless mastery of language and her uncanny genius for mapping a criminal mind.' -- The Times 
'Rendell is as masterful as ever; her writing tense, brittle, and brilliant.' -- Sunday 
Mirror 
'Couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review 
'Fantastic book' -- ***** Reader review 
'Fabulous read' -- ***** Reader review 
'Love the way Ruth Rendell weaves the plot - she never disappoints me' -- ***** Reader review 
'Brilliant storyline, couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review 
 
************************************************************************************ 
Beneath the green meadows of Loughton, Essex, a dark network of tunnels has been dug. A group of children discover them. They play there. It becomes their place. 
 
Seventy years on, the world has changed. Developers have altered the rural landscape. Friends from a half-remembered world have married, died, grown sick, moved - or disappeared. 
 
Work on a new house called Warlock uncovers a long buried grisly secret: the bones of two severed hands are discovered in a box, and an investigation into a long-buried crime of passion begins. 
 
The friends, who played together as children, begin to question their past. And a weary detective, more concerned with current crimes, must investigate a case of murder.

The Girl Next Door is vintage Rendell and a perfect celebration of her half-century. She’s so effortlessly prolific that it’s easy to take her for granted; we assume that if we miss one of her books, there’ll be another one along in a minute. This novel, however, reminded me of the singularity of Ruth Rendell’s talent, her effortless mastery of language and her uncanny genius for mapping a criminal mind.

Rendell is as masterful as ever; her writing tense, brittle, and brilliant.

She is the peer of Kingsley Amis and Muriel Spark. The Girl Next Door is as great a novel as Stanley and the Women or Memento Mori . . . a joy to read. Rendell's novels establish a sense of order that is deeply satisfying.

Fifty years on, the girl from Essex has become the unchallenged crime queen of suburbia. Her powers of observation are as acute as ever, and she writes about old age with as much gusto as any of the subjects she has tackled in her long career.

This book is extraordinarily courageous, a demonstration that fiction can take us where reportage dares not go.

Rendell gives an acutely observed portrayal of old age through her characters’ regrets, losses and bewilderment . . . Difficult themes such as death, usually dressed up in mystery in a crime novel are, thanks to these elderly protagonists, real, hard-hitting and constant.

That The Girl Next Door works as a standalone novel is partly attributable to Rendell’s deftness in parrying comparisons with her best-known creation. It also unravels a satisfying mystery, stretching tentacles into the past.

An excellent analysis of re-found youth, this novel shows how people can surprise themselves even in their winter years.

In this engaging novel, the portraits of elderly people living today and their preoccupations are presented with almost sociological precision, and scattered throughout are acute observations about changing language and manners.

Nobody does the suburbs like Ruth Rendell: in her expert hands they exert a morbid fascination. Behind the immaculate exteriors lurks a world of unhappiness and deceit – and at times murder. An excellent read.

(A Wexford Case)

No Man's Nightingale

Follow formidable Chief of Police, Inspector Wexford, as he embarks on another psychologically thrilling case. This is crime at its absolute best, you'll struggle to put it down.

No Man's Nightingale: the eagerly anticipated twenty-fourth title in Ruth Rendell's bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series.

With every page, Rendell reminds us why she is the doyenne of murder mystery and still absolutely at the top of her game.

[A] wry and twisty mystery — a joy to read.

No Man's Nightingale: the eagerly anticipated twenty-fourth title in Ruth Rendell's bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series. 
 
The woman vicar of St Peter's Church may not be popular among the community of Kingsmarkham. But it still comes as a profound shock when she is found strangled in her vicarage. 
 
Inspector Wexford is retired, but he retains a relish for solving mysteries especially when they are as close to home as this one is. 
 
So when he's asked whether he will assist on the case, he readily agrees. 
 
But why did the vicar die? And is anyone else in Kingsmarkham in danger? 
 
What Wexford doesn't know is that the killer is far closer than he, or anyone else, thinks.

Archie and Archie

A charming story of a cat and a dog who live on the same street, for younger readers, from bestselling author Ruth Rendell.

Archie the cat and Archie the dog live next door to each other. Read about their adventures - including Archie the cat spending a terrifying night trapped in a neighbour's attic - in this completely charming book for younger readers.

A charming story of a cat and a dog who live on the same street for younger readers, from bestselling author Ruth Rendell. 
 
Archie the cat and Archie the dog live next door to each other on a street full of feline friends and foes. Read about their adventures - including Archie the cat spending a scary night trapped in a neighbour's attic - in this gentle, lyrical, completely charming book for younger readers. Perfect for all animal lovers.

The Saint Zita Society

Ruth Rendell's new psychological thriller is a gripping examination of society. And the darkness is never far away . . .

Rendell deploys her unadorned prose style to create memorable characters and nail-biting suspense.

This is a rip-roaring crime caper that will have you on the edge of your seat and will keep you guessing until the very last pages.

Probably the greatest living crime writer in the world

As a page-turner there are few who can match Ruth

Unequivocally, the most brilliant mystery writer of our time. She magnificently triumphs in a style that is uniquely hers and mesmerising

Rendell is a great storyteller who knows how to make sure that the reader has to turn the pages out of a desperate need to find out what is going to happen next

There are quite a few Ruth Rendells: the doyenne of the traditional English detective novel; the queen of the psychological thriller; the celebrated author of the literary thriller; and her most recent incarnation, as a writer of blackly comic fairy tales set in London.

To read her nowadays is akin to quaffing a glass of what the fake princess calls ‘TDTINW’ – the drink that is never wrong – champagne. She is exhilarating, makes you giggle yet leaves you with an acidic aftertaste.

Rendell is excellent on the delicate snobbery of the uneasy territory in between the social classes... The novel’s plot forms a complex web in which power sways back and forth between employer and employed.

When millionaire banker, Preston Still, kills his wife's lover by pushing him down the stairs, he looks to the family au-pair to help him dispose of the body. 
 
But the au pair belongs to the Saint Zita Society, a self-formed group of drivers, nannies and gardeners, who are servants to the rich - and whose intentions are not entirely benign. 
 
Accident murder, illicit affairs, and a young man recently released from a hospital for the criminally insane come together with devastating consequences in Ruth Rendell's gripping new crime novel.

The Vault

Chosen by the Sunday Times' in 2015 as one of the 50 best crime and thriller novels of the last five years.

Ruth Rendell is a marvel, and in the latest Inspector Wexford mystery she's on cracking form ...A total page-turner - and one of Rendell's very, very best novels.

Everything that is brilliant about Rendell's writing is present in abundance in this novel: the vivid scene-setting, the knife-sharp social observations, the tiny telling details that contribute so powerfully to characterisation . . . The Vault is an excellent addition to an incredibly impressive series.

The Vault sees Rendell for the first time marry the two genres she is master of: the psychological thriller and the police whodunit . . There's not a clue out of place or a shoehorned plotline in sight.

Now Wexford has retired, Rendell has spotted an opportunity to bring her two strands together in a superb novel called The Vault . . . the author's sheer technical skill is evident as she effortlessly brings the original story up to date. Only a novelist whose characters feel intensely real to her could pull off such a coup.

The Vault, as a sort-of-sequel is a bold attempt to combine Rendell's two chosen specialties: the police procedural and the psychological thriller. No one hides the clues better than her; no one else creates such a pervasive atmosphere of almost comic disgust and dread.

____________________________________ 
Featured in The Times Top 10 Crime Books of the Decade 
 
The twenty-fourth book in the bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series, from the author of classic detective fiction and gripping psychological thrillers including End in Tears and Thirteen Steps Down. 
 
The impossible has happened. Chief Inspector Reg Wexford has retired from the crime force. He and his wife, Dora, now divide their time between Kingsmarkham and a coachhouse in Hampstead, belonging to their actress daughter, Sheila. 
 
Wexford takes great pleasure in his books, but, for all the benefits of a more relaxed lifestyle, he misses being the hand of the law. 
 
But a chance meeting in a London street, with someone he had known briefly as a very young police constable, changes everything. Tom Ede is now a Detective Superintendent, and is very keen to recruit Wexford as an adviser on a mysterious murder case. 
 
The bodies of two women and a man have been discovered in the old coal hole of an attractive house in St John's Wood. None of the corpses carry identification. But the man's jacket pockets contain a string of pearls, a diamond and a sapphire necklace as well as other jewellery valued in the region of £40,000. 
 
To Wexford, this is definitely a case worth coming out of retirement for. He is intrigued and excited by the challenge, but unaware that this new investigative role will bring him into extreme physical danger...

The Bridesmaid / Going Wrong

Two BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations of chilling Ruth Rendell stories, starring Jamie Glover, Rachel Lewis, Peter Wingfield and Oona Beeson.

Love and death are the principal players in these two BBC Radio full-cast dramatisations of chilling Ruth Rendell stories.   In 'The Bridesmaid', when Philip embarks on an affair with Senta, his sister's bridesmaid, she reminds him of the stone statue he adored as a child. Yet Senta is married, and Philip's overwhelming aversion to violence leads indirectly to murder and horror as he is drawn into erotic but murderous complicity. Starring Jamie Glover and Rachel Lewis.   In 'Going Wrong', natural born villain Guy Curran has youth, good looks and charm, but not the one thing he longs for: Leonora, the sophisticated girl he has loved since childhood. When Guy learns that she's about to get married, his growing obsession convinces him that if Leonora can't be his, nor can she be anyone else's - ever. Starring Peter Wingfield and Oona Beeson.

Computer Seance / Fair Exchange (Storycuts)

Two short stories from the world's best living crime writer and author of bestselling psychological thrillers, including Thirteen Steps Down. A woman who claims to communicate with the dead makes the mistake of believing herself, and a tragic story of one life exchanged for another.

Ruth Rendell's books are not only whodunits but whydunits, uncovering the motive roots of murder

Ruth Rendell is certainly one of the foremost of our writers of crime fiction... She’s using the detective story to say things she thinks are important

Ruth Rendell is surely one of the greatest novelists presently at work in our language. The extraordinary depth and accuracy of her psychological portraits is matched only by the rare inventiveness of her storytelling

Once her characters start twisting on every-tightening tracks, their fates are brilliantly sealed, and it’s never obvouis who’ll be the victim or the culprit. Rendell’s greatest trick is making an unforeseen outcome feel predestined

Ruth Rendell is not only the finest crime novelist there is, but one of the finest novelists writing in the English language

In 'Computer Seance', Sophia is credited with the 'spiritualist renaissance' in London, conducting séances for the bereaved residents of West London. So she is not at all surprised to meet her dead brother at a bus stop. She has, after all, encountered other deceased family members before. Only this time the encounter is more disturbingly real. 
 
In 'Fair Exchange' a meeting of two old acquaintances leads to the shocking revelation of a mutual friend's death. What unfolds is a tragic story of one life being sacrificed for another. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, these two short stories were previously published in Piranha To Scurfy, a collection of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries.

Myth / The Astronomical Scarf / Walter's Leg (Storycuts)

Three short stories: one man is obsessed by a mysterious map - and its sinister influences; an enrapturing object seems to warp the destiny of its posessors; and they say time heals all wounds - but not in this case.

In 'Myth' the shame of being made redundant seems to have robbed David Meacher of vitality. Then, on a trip abroad, he becomes fascinated with an ancient map of the Garden of Eden. Returning to England, his obsession only increases and even re-energises him...but it is not a force for good. 
 
In 'The Astronomical Scarf' a magnificent silk scarf, deepest blue and with the constellations of the night-sky patterned in silver across it, is weirdly destined to pass through many hands, and to shape many destinies. 
 
In 'Walter's Leg' his grandchildren's persistent questioning leads Walter to reminisce on a distant childhood escapade - in which he was shot in the leg. The memory provokes a desire to track down the perpetrator, but without a thought for the consequences. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Piranha To Scurfy.

The Beach Butler / The Professional (Storycuts)

Two short stories: a dull holiday is transformed by conspiracy and lust; and a murder in a department store reveals shocking truths

In 'The Beach Butler' Alison's holiday is proving underwhelming. She has had to take her holiday on her own, and finds the seaside a bore - except for the attentions of the remarkably handsome 'beach butler'. A chance discovery, however, radically alters the atmosphere. 
 
In 'The Professional' a young man has a menial job in the department store which is not particularly fulfilling, although it pays a wage and provides a chance to talk to the pretty shop-girls. But when a woman is murdered in the store, far more profound truths surface than would otherwise have been suspected. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, these two short stories were previously published in the collection Piranha To Scurfy.

High Mysterious Union (Storycuts)

A simple cottage retreat is drastically altered by the weird charms of the local women.

Strange events occur in a village in England, where the villagers themselves are endowed with an almost elfish beauty. Discoveries are made by a man who moves into a local cottage, for a writing retreat, also hoping to escape the woes of a recent divorce. He is especially susceptible to the nymph-like charms of the young women - and becomes increasingly bound up in their intrigues. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Piranha To Scurfy.

Piranha to Scurfy (Storycuts)

A man's twisted obsession with reading results in a morbid blurring of fiction and fact.

In a house filled floor to ceiling with books, a lonely middle-aged man scrutinises new publications for editing errors. He is obsessive, writing angry letters to each author he finds fault with. Books are his life - and in an unexpected way have led a terrible guilt to fester inside him. Just when he thinks that all is buried and forgotten, a work of fiction with uncanny resemblances to his own story sends him back to the dark precipice. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Piranha To Scurfy.

The Man Who Was The God of Love (Storycuts)

A husband murders his wife after she finds out he's not as clever as she thought.

Fiona meets Henry when temping for his company and is immediately impressed by his intellect. He takes pride in his achievements, but after they marr, Fiona finds out that this intellect was all just a pretence. Little does Fiona know the consequences of finding out a secret of pride . . . 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Blood Lines.

Clothes (Storycuts)

A woman obsessed with buying clothes finally recognises she needs help when they nearly strangle her.

Addicted to buying clothes, Alison shops until she steals, pulls a scarf around her neck and, quite literally, drops . . . 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Blood Lines.

Burning End (Storycuts)

A normal family is secretly riven with cruelty and cold-heartedness.

A short story about the shocking revelations of the realities that lie concealed behind day-to-day family life: an ailing woman's covert cruelty to her caring daughter-in-law; a desire to escape the family shackles; and resignation to loss. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Blood Lines.

Expectations / Lizzie's Lover / Shreds and Slivers / The Carer / Unacceptable Levels (Storycuts)

Five short stories from the world's best living crime writer and author of bestselling psychological thrillers, including Thirteen Steps Down: A man who has married his wife for money is murdered but his wife feels only relief; one man takes his poetry far, far too seriously; strange obsessions wreak unexpected havoc; a house sitter snooping for love letters unexpectedly finds a dead woman; and a smoker can't quit smoking, nor can he quit scratching his mosquito bites.

Ruth Rendell has quite simply transformed the genre of crime writing. She displays her peerless skill in blending the mundane, commonplace aspects of life with the potent murky impulses of desire and greed, obsession and fear

There are quite a few Ruth Rendells: the doyenne of the traditional English detective novel; the queen of the psychological thriller; the celebrated author of the literary thriller

Rendell is unrivalled at depicting psychologically warped people and at creating unease through the simplest things. This is another triumph

In 'Expectations', when George, a seemingly virtuous, well-born and well-educated man, is murdered, his wife reflects on their life together. She married George for love despite knowing he only wanted her fortune. Now he is dead, she no longer has to resemble the psychologically disturbed Miss Haversham. 
 
In 'Lizzie's Lover' a poetically-minded man woos his lover with quotes of verse. He is so obsessed with poetry that he determines to bring the words to life, regardless of the fatal consequences. 
 
In 'Shreds and Slivers' an aggrieved man plots his deadly revenge with sinister cheer. This chilling tale will make you think twice the next time you're buying dinner. 
 
In 'The Carer' nosy neighbour Angela looks after people's houses when they're away. Sometimes she likes to go through their possessions, searching their drawers to uncover their secrets... Until she uncovers a real life skeleton in a closet. 
 
In 'Unacceptable Levels' a smoker has tried, and failed, to quit. When he's outside, he smokes to keep the mosquitoes away. When he gets mosquito bites, he can't sleep so he smokes some more, caught in a vicious psychological cycle. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, these five short stories were previously published in Blood Lines, a collection of murder mysteries and crimes thrillers.

Blood Lines (Storycuts)

A motive-less murder and several hit-and-runs perplex Detective Wexford.

Wexford has a headache: no-one seems to have witnessed the murder, and there is no evidence of any grudges being held against the victim. Nevertheless, the statements of the locals just don't make sense. It is up to Wexford to track down the rat. Whilst he is doing so, a series of hit-and-runs afflict the town centre. Is there a link? 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Blood Lines.

Ruth Rendell

As Wexford’s investigation gathers pace, we experience the conflicts and contradictions of the Sixties when the social fabric was turned inside-out . . . a classic mystery, as true to life now as it was half a century ago.

THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION 
 
WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY KATE HAMER 
 
'If crime fiction is currently in rude good health . . . this is in no small part thanks to Ruth Rendell' 
IAN RANKIN 
 
'A classic mystery, as true to life now as it was half a century ago' 
MAIL ONLINE 
 
'Ruth Rendell's mesmerising capacity to shock, chill and disturb is unmatched' 
THE TIMES 
 
AN ORDINARY LIFE. AN EXTRAORDINARY DEATH. 
 
The trampled grass led to the body of Margaret Parsons. 
 
With no useful clues and a victim known only for her mundane life, Chief Inspector Wexford is baffled until he discovers Margaret's dark secret - a collection of rare books, each inscribed from a secret lover and signed only as 'Doon'. 
 
Who is Doon? And could the answer hold the key to Wexford solving his first case?

Ruth Rendell

Books by Ruth Rendell

Series by Ruth Rendell

Wexford

Articles featuring Ruth Rendell

The 8 most evil duos in fiction

Best long-running mystery and detective book series

100 best crime books of all time, as chosen by our readers

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter