Ruth Rendell Book order (chronological)

New and uncollected tales of murder, mischief, magic and madness. Ruth Rendell was an acknowledged master of psychological suspense: these are ten (and a quarter) of her most chillingly compelling short stories, collected here together for the first time. In these tales, a businessman boasts about cheating on his wife, only to find the tables turned. A beautiful country rectory reverberates to the echo of a historical murder. A compulsive liar acts on impulse, only to be lead inexorably to disaster. And a wealthy man finds there is more to his wife's kidnapping than meets the eye.Atmospheric, gripping and never predictable, this is Ruth Rendell at her inimitable best. The stories are: Never Sleep in a Bed Facing a Mirror; A Spot of Folly; The Price of Joy; The Irony of Hate; Digby's Wives; The Haunting of Shawley Rectory; A Drop Too Much; The Thief; The Long Corridor of Time; In the Time of his Prosperity; and Trebuchet.Introduction from Sophie Hannah.

When Carl sells a box of slimming pills to his close friend Stacey, inadvertently causing her death, he sets in train a sequence of catastrophic events which begin with subterfuge, extend to lies, and culminate in murder. In Rendell's dark and atmospheric tale of psychological suspense, we encounter mistaken identity, kidnap, blackmail, and a cast of characters who are so real that we come to know them better than we know ourselves. Infused with her distinctive blend of wry humour, acute observation and deep humanity, this is Rendell at her most memorable and best.

Anita's narrow white hand with the long nails painted pastel pink, the man's brown hand equally shapely, the fingers slightly splayed.'Beneath the green meadows of Loughton, Essex, a dark network of tunnels has been dug.

When Grace and her brother Andrew inherit their grandmother's house in Hampstead, they decide to move in together. It seems the obvious thing to do.There's one thing they've forgotten though: what if one of them wants to bring a lover into the house? When Andrew's partner James moves in, it alters the balance - with almost fatal consequences.

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.

Een jongeman organiseert een feestje voor zijn medebewoners in zijn nieuwe flatgebouw, waar hij wordt bedreigd door de echtgenoot van zijn minnares.

'Someone had told Dex that the Queen lived in Victoria. So did he, but she had a palace and he had one room in a street off Warwick Way. Still he liked the idea that she was his neighbour.' Dex works as a gardener for Dr Jefferson at his home on Hexam Place in Pimlico: an exclusive street of white-painted stucco Georgian houses inhabited by the rich, and serviced by the not so rich. The hired help, a motley assortment of au pairs, drivers and cleaners, decide to form the St Zita Society (Zita was the patron saint of domestic servants) as an excuse to meet at the local pub and air their grievances. When Dex is invited to attend one of these meetings, the others find that he is a strange man, seemingly ill at ease with human beings. These first impressions are compounded when they discover he has recently been released from a hospital for the criminally insane, where he was incarcerated for attempting to kill his own mother. Dex's most meaningful relationship seems to be with his mobile phone service provider, Peach, and he interprets the text notifications and messages he receives from the company as a reassuring sign that there is some kind of god who will protect him. And give him instructions about ridding the world of evil spirits . . . Accidental death and pathological madness cohabit above and below stairs in Hexam Place.

In the peaceful garden of a London house, a manhole cover has just been raised. Inside the cellar lie three bodies. Two men and a woman. None carry identification. The men have been there for twelve years; the woman for only two. For Inspector Wexford, this is a case worth coming out of retirement for. Soon he is trying to establish who the victims in the vault are - and most importantly who put them there. But a shocking development in his private life means that his search for the truth is about to become a lot more complicated ...

When Stuart Font decides to throw a house-warming party in his new flat, he invites all the people in his building. After some deliberation, he even includes the unpleasant caretaker and his wife. There are a few other genuine friends on the list, but he definitely does not want to include his girlfriend, Claudia, as that might involve asking her husband. The party will be one everyone remembers. But not for the right reasons. All the occupants of Lichfield House are about to experience a dramatic change in their lives... Living opposite, in reclusive isolation, is a young, beautiful Asian woman, christened Tigerlily by Stuart. As though from some strange urban fairytale, she emerges to exert a terrible spell. And Mr and Mrs Font, the worried parents, will have even more cause for concern about their handsome but hopelessly naive son. Darkly humorous, piercingly observant of human behaviour, Ruth Rendell has created here another compelling fable of our lives and crimes.

Simon Serrailler's story began in The Various Haunts of Men (about a serial killer) and continued with The Pure in Heart (about a kidnapped schoolboy) Susan Hill is not afraid to tackle difficult issues, nor to face up to the realities of st

When Wexford starts out as a young police officer, he is involved with a murder case where the perpetrator is not brought to justice. All these years, Wexford has harboured suspicions about the possible killer, who suddenly returns to Kingsmarkham. There are other apparently unrelated deaths, and once more Wexford is on the trail to uncover the evidence that will make the crucial connections. Ruth Rendell takes us back in time, not only to resolve a series of crimes, but to show Wexford as a young man, meeting Dora, his future wife, and developing into the unique, instinctive yet methodical detective that he becomes.

Eugene Wren is fifty, with prematurely white hair. He is too secretive for his own good. But he has cut back radically on his alcohol consumption and has given up cigarettes. Which is just as well, considering he is going out with a doctor. For all his good intentions, though, there is something he doesn't want her to know about.

„Der Liebe böser Engel“: Mrs. Nightingale ist ein Engel. Dieser Meinung sind alle auf Myfleet Manor. Um so größer ist der Schock, als die liebenswürdige und hilfsbereite Frau erschlagen im Wald aufgefunden wird und jegliche Spur, die den Mörder dingfest machen könnte, fehlt.„Schuld verjährt nicht“: Kingsmarkhan ist ein ruhiges Städtchen, bis plötzlich zwei Kinder spurlos verschwinden. Als auch nach Tagen keine Lösegeldforderungen eingehen, sieht sich Inspektor Wexford darin bestätigt, dass ein verrückter Kindermörder schon auf sein nächstes Opfer wartet …

Het stenen oordeelOp Lowfield Hall wordt een nieuwe huishoudster aangenomen: Eunice Parchmann. De familie Coverdale is buitengewoon tevreden over haar, al doet Eunice zelden wat haar via briefjes wordt opgedragen. Eunice heeft dan ook een geheim dat ze koste van het kost verborgen wil houden.De bezeten minnaarIn een vervallen Londens huis leidt de eenzame Arthur Johnson, temidden van de andere huurders, een schijnbaar keurig leven. Niemand vermoedt dat bij een geheim heeft dat het daglicht niet kan verdragen. Wanneer er een nieuwe huurder, Anthony Johnson, in het huis komt wonen, verstoort deze per ongeluk de geheime rituelen van Arthur. Met verstrekkende gevolgen...

„Schweiß der Angst“: Die attraktive Anne, Schwester des begabten Malers Rupert Margorlis, scheint spurlos verschwunden. Weder ein anonymer Brief noch eine groß angelegte Befragung im Bekanntenkreis der Vermissten liefern Chefinspektor Wexford die heiß ersehnte Spur. Erst als ein goldenes Feuerzeug mit Gravur gefunden wird, scheint der Täter gefunden ...„Mord am Polterabend“: Überraschend kommt der Fernfahrer Charlie Hatton zu Geld – doch der Segen ist nur von kurzer Dauer: Charlie wird ermordet aufgefunden, und das am Polterabend seines besten Freundes. Inspektor Wexford gelingt es, den Tathergang zu rekonstruieren. Nur eines will nicht recht ins Bild passen: Charlie Hattons plötzlicher Reichtum ...

It’s late spring of 1990 and a love affair is flourishing: between Ivor Tesham, a thirty-three year old rising star of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, and Hebe Furnal, a stunning North London housewife stuck in a dull marriage. What excitement Hebe lacks at home, however, is amply compensated for by the well-bred and intensely attractive Tesham – an ardent womanizer and ambitious politican. On the eve of her twenty-eighth birthday, Tesham decides to give Hebe a present to remember: something far more memorable than, say, the costly string of pearls he’s already lavished upon her. Involving a fashionable new practice known as ‘adventure sex’, a man arranges for his unsuspecting but otherwise willing girlfriend to be snatched from the street, bound and gagged, and delivered to him at a mutually agreed venue ... Set amidst an age of IRA bombings, the first Gulf War, and sleazy politics, The Birthday Present is the gripping story of a fall from grace, and of a man who carries within him all the hypocrisy, greed and self-obsession of a troubled era.

„Alles Liebe vom Tod“: Inspektor Wexford steht vor einem Rätsel: Margret Parsons wurde erdrosselt, und es gibt weder Hinweise auf den Täter noch auf ein Motiv. Nur ein teurer Lippenstift wurde in der Nähe des Tatorts gefunden. Er gehört einer reichen, schönen, aber untreuen Ehefrau … „Mord ist ein schweres Erbe“: Hat Inspektor Wexford bei der Klärung seines ersten Mordfalls womöglich einen furchtbaren Fehler begangen? Der Pfarrer Henry Archery hat ganz persönliche Gründe, den Fall Painter nach 15 Jahren noch einmal aufzurollen …

Searching for truffles in a wood, a man and his dog unearth something less savoury - a human hand. The body, as Chief Inspector Wexford is informed later, has lain buried for ten years or so, wrapped in a purple cotton sheet. The post mortem cannot reveal the precise cause of death. The only clue is a crack in one of the dead man's ribs.

'Weeks went by when Ismay never thought of it at all. Then something would bring it back or it would return in a dream. The dream began in the same way. She and her mother would be climbing the stairs, following Heather's lead through the bedroom to what was on the other side, not a bathroom in the dream but a chamber floored and walled in marble. In the middle of it was a glassy lake. The white thing in the water floated towards her, its face submerged, and her mother said, absurdly, "Don't look!"' The dead man was Ismay's stepfather, Guy. Now, nine years on, she and her sister, Heather, still lived in the same house in Clapham. But it had been divided into two self-contained flats. Their mother lived upstairs with her sister, Pamela. And the bathroom, where Guy had drowned, had been demolished. Ismay and Heather get on well. They always have. They never discuss the changes to the house, still less what happened that August day. But now, with painful inevitability, hidden truths start to emerge.

The Killing Doll: Weaves together the ultimately deadly stories of Pup Yearman, who sold his soul to the devil, his unhappy older sister, and butcher-knife keeper Diarmit Bawne. .... Live Flesh: After ten years in prison for shooting -- and permanently crippling -- a young policeman, Victor Jenner is released to a strange new world and told to make a new life for himself. It's hard to fill the days, but at least there's one blessing -- he was never convicted for all those rapes he committed. Then Victor meets David, the policeman he shot all those years ago, and David's beautiful girlfriend, Clare. And suddenly Victor's new life is starting to look an awful lot like the old one . . .

In een Londense afbraakbuurt verstoort een verliefde student het leven van een contactgestoorde psychopaat.

Kerstin Kvist enters crumbling Lydstep Old Hall to live with the Cosways, and to act as nurse to John: a grown man fed drugs by his family to control his lunatic episodes. Kerstin is determined to help John, however there are others in the family who are equally as determined that John remain isolated.

A lump of concrete dropped deliberately from a little stone bridge kills the wrong person. The driver behind is spared. But, only for a while ... it is impossible for Chief Inspector Wexford not to wonder how terrible it would be to discover that one of his daughters had been murdered

Als een Engelse lord een biografie schrijft over zijn overgrootvader, lijfarts van koningin Victoria, doet hij verontrustende ontdekkingen.

»Die Werbung«: Guy Curran ist von seiner Freundin Leonora fast besessen. Seine Liebe nimmt schließlich krankhafte Züge an, als die junge Frau sich in einen anderen verliebt. Guy ist entschlossen, den Kampf mit dem Nebenbuhler aufzunehmen. Notfalls mit Gewalt ...§»Das geheime Haus des Todes«: Susan Townsend lebt mit ihrem kleinen Sohn in einem beschaulichen Londoner Vorort. Doch als sie im Haus ihrer Nachbarn eine grauenhafte Entdeckung macht, wird sie in Ereignisse hineingezogen, die ihr Leben schlagartig verändern ...§

Living in a decaying house in Notting Hill, Mix Cellini is obsessed with 10 Rillington Place, where the notorious John Christie committed a series of foul murders. He is also infatuated with a beautiful model who lives nearby - a woman who would not look at him twice. Mix's landlady, is equally reclusive - living her life through her library of books. Both landlady and lodger inhabit weird worlds of their own. But when reality intrudes into Mix's life, a long pent-up violence explodes. -- back cover

Een charmeur gaat relaties aan met vrouwen om er financieel beter van te worden, tot hij zelf slachtoffer wordt.

Clodagh a toujours eu le goût du risque. Au point d'escalader les pylônes électriques, fascinée qu'elle est par leur hauteur. Au point d'entraîner avec elle son petit ami. Jusqu'à l'accident... Hantée par ce souvenir, elle ne parvient pas à mener une existence normale. Étudiante à Londres, elle fait la connaissance de Silver, un jeune idéaliste qui, depuis son appartement, parcourt les toits de la ville, un espace hors d'atteinte du monde " d'en bas ", celui des adultes et de leurs lois absurdes. S'y retrouve un groupe de jeunes marginaux soudés par l'amitié. Mais la peur, la violence et la trahison vont faire voler en éclats ce fragile équilibre... Un suspense psychologique d'une grande intensité, qui dépeint avec justesse les affres d'une jeunesse blessée, privée de repères.

The first girl had a bite mark on her neck. When the tabloids got hold of the story, they immediately called the killer 'The Rottweiler', and the name stuck. The latest body was discovered very near Inez Ferry's antique shop in Marylebone. Someone spotted

De vondst op een dierenkerkhof van de geraamten van een vrouw en een baby confronteert een aantal vrienden met hun verleden.

This first in a series of anthologies sponsored by the British Crime Writers Association features 22 short stories with urban themes. The editor notes that he was looking for stories that offered imaginative takes on the familiar idea of big-city cr

Blood. That's what Martin Nanther's great-grandfather Henry was interested in. As Queen Victoria's faboured physician he became expert in diseases of the blood, particularly the royal disease of haemophilia. But, as Martin discovers whilst researching Henry's life, he was not just expert - he was obsessed. Yet reading between the lines of Henry's medical essays and diary, Martin begins to suspect that his great-grandfather was less than candid about both his life and work. What was he trying to conceal? Were the tragedies of his family life more than mere accidents? And what implications does it have for Martin, the blood doctor's descendant?

A woman phoned to say she and her husband went to Paris for the weekend, leaving their children with a - well, teen-sitter, I suppose, got back last night to find the lot gone and naturally she assumes they've all drowned.'There hadn't been anything like

Okrem tajomných síl určujúcich ľudské omyly sa vo svojich príbehoch autorka zaoberá aj psychikou človeka, v ktorom nepredvídaný zhluk okolností prebudí to najhoršie. Nik so susedov netuší, čo sa skrýva v navonok neškodnom starom mládencovi a pod kríkmi v jeho záhrade. Jasnovidka Sophia sprostredkujúca ostatným kontakt s nebožtíkmi nemá ani potuchy, že aj ju môže smrť prekvapiť kedykoľvek. Tomovi Dorchesterovi, ktorý pre záchranu milovanej ženy obetuje iný život, sa ani nesníva, ako doplatí na svoju lásku. Nora, ktorá sa vyberie na dovolenku do Skalistých hôr, vonkoncom neráta so stretnutím s miestnym postrachom - krvilačnou pumou. Spisovateľ, ktorý sa usadí na idylickom vidieku, ani nechyruje, čo ho môže stáť vášeň k mladej žene, ktorá holduje voľnej láske. A manželka muža strácajúceho zmysel pre realitu nevie, ako riskuje, keď s ním odíde na vidiek v dobrej viere, že ho vylieči.

The long title story is about a man whose life, in a sense, is a book. The second novella, High Mysterious Union, explores a strange, erotic universe in a dream-like corner of rural England, and illustrates very atmospherically what range Ruth Rendell has as a writer, expanding beyond her famous sphere of crime writing.

A mystery surrounds three women and three men who have recently disappeared completely from their lives. There are other women too, unknown to one another, who have had relationships with a dark-haired man who is no longer around.

In veel misdaadverhalen speelt de vrouw een belangrijke rol, maar er zijn uiteraard ook talloze vrouwen die als auteur van misdaadverhalen een bijdrage geleverd hebben aan deze rijke traditie, met name in de achterliggende eeuw. In dit boek presenteert Elizabeth George, de meest toonaangevende vrouwelijke misdaadauteur van dit moment, haar keuze uit de beste verhalen van die vrouwen. Haar overzicht begint in Groot-Brittannië en het Gemenebest, waar de periode van 1920 tot en met de jaren vijftig 'the Golden Age of Mystery' genoemd wordt.

Elena asks that you come to the House of Swans at once... Compelled by this message, the wealthy, sybaritic Sextus Roscius goes not to his harlot, but to his doom—savagely murdered by unknown assassins. In the unseasonable heat of a spring morning in 80 B.C., Gordianus the Finder is summoned to the house of Cicero, a young advocate staking his reputation on this case. The charge is patricide; the motive, a son's greed. The punishment, rooted deep in Roman tradition, is horrific beyond imagining.Gordianus's investigation takes him through the city's raucous, pungent streets and deep into urban Umbria, unraveling layers of deceit, twisted passions, and murderous desperation. From pompous, rouged nobles to wily slaves to citizens of seemingly simple virtue, the case becomes a political nightmare. As the defense proceeds toward a devastating confrontation in the Forum, one man's fate may be threaten the very leaders of Rome itself.

Aux confins du désir, de la passion charnelle et de l'obsession, treize maîtres du suspense et de l'épouvante explorent un univers sombre et délicieusement troublant.

This title contains two novels by Ruth Rendell - 'The Bridesmaid' and 'To Fear a Painted Devil'.

Ruth Rendell wurde 1930 in London geboren, wo sie auch heute lebt. Seit ihrem ersten Buch «Alles Liebe vom Tod», das 1964 erschien, hat sie alle wesentlichen Preise und Auszeichnungen erhalten: mehrfach den Silver und Gold Dagger der englischen Krimiautoren, mehrfach den Edgar der Mystery Writers of America, den Diamond Dagger für ihr Lebenswerk, den Grand Masters Award, den Literary Award der Sunday Times. Die englische Königin erhob sie 1997 aufgrund ihrer Verdienste um die Literatur in den Adelsstand und verlieh ihr den Titel «Baroness». Ruth Rendell schreibt auch unter dem Pseudonym Barbara Vine.

Verbrechen, die sich lohnen: für Leserinnen und Leser. Dafür garantieren die Meisterinnen und Meister des Fachs: von modernen Klassikern wie Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, Cornell Woolrich oder Patricia Highsmith bis zu Jakob Arjouni, Ingrid Noll oder Donna Leon. Aber auch Entdeckungen aus Chile, Australien und Griechenland sind zu machen. Kriminalgeschichten muss man lesen, um zu erkennen, was, in moralischer Hinsicht, der Mensch eigentlich ist, so Arthur Schopenhauer. Oder Raymond Chandler: Zeige mir einen Menschen, Mann oder Frau, der Kriminalromane nicht ausstehen kann, und ich zeige dir einen Narren.

V románe Ruth Rendellovej sa ocitneme v panoptiku anglických vidieckych starousadlíkov i prišelcov, sugestívnej atmosféry vrcholiaceho leta. Obyvatelia Linchestru s radosťou očakávajú narodeniny Tamsin Selbyovej, napriek tomu, že jej manžela Patricka si nik neobľúbil. O viacerých je dokonca možné povedať, že ho nenávidia. A tak nečudo, že keď Patrick zomrie na následky poštípania osami, vysloví miestny lekár dr. Grenleaf podozrenie z vraždy, ktoré je podporované pomaly sa objavujúcimi novými skutočnosťami. Autorka ponúka čiatateľovi zaujímavú a nebezpečnú hru s nečakaným rozuzlením.

This omnibus contains two of Ruth Rendell's crime novels - 'The Lake of Darkness' and 'The Veiled One'.

Inspector Wexford confronts the terrifying world of domestic violence when a series of kidnappings leads back to his own daughter's volunteer work at a shelter for battered women

Hrsg. von Andrea Best, umfasst Werke von García Márquez, Borges und Rendell auf 318 Seiten.

In traditional fairytales the handsome prince rescues the beautiful princess from her wicked stepmother, and the couple live happily ever after. But in Ruth Rendell's dark and damaged contemporary universe, innocent dreams can turn into the most terrible

The obituaries for Gerald Candless were respectful. He had been, after all, an admired and popular writer and his sudden death at his home in Devon was a loss to literature as well as to his family and friends. The trouble was, as his daughter Sarah soon discovered, that it seemed that her father had taken on a different identity that he wasn't Gerald Candless at all. But if he wasn't Gerald Candless, who was he?

A by-pass is planned in Kingsmarkham - that will destroy its peace and the natural habitat forever. Dora Wexford joins the protest movement. But Wexford must be more circumspect. Trouble is expected. But before the protesters make their presence felt, the

The bestselling author of King Solomon's Carpet presents a tour de force of psychological suspense involving the malevolent consequences of a 75-year old murder. Vine is the recipient of three Edgars and four Gold Dagger Awards.

London's wealthiest, poorest, kindest, and most vicious citizens all cross paths in Regents Park. Quiet, pretty Mary Jago could never have suspected that a series of unspeakable murders in the park contained threads that tangled around her simple, ordinary life.

This is a haunting & dramatic collection of long & short stories which reveal the amazing range of one of Britain's major novelists. It features the first Wexford short story to have appeared since Means of Evil.

11 spannende Geschichten: neben einem Fall für Inspektor Wexford beeindruckt z.B. auch eine kulinarische Version von Russisch Roulette mit ihrem unerwarteten Ausgang.

Jenny's marriage is loveless, and she is having an affair. She works at an old people's home, where she is especially fond of Stella, a woman dying of cancer - whose own secrets parallel Jenny's - with the difference that she may have been involved in murdering her lover's husband.

Tim Cornish, a creative writing student, sits composing a confession: an admission of a crime committed two years ago that has yet to be discovered. It began when he first encountered Ivo, a magnetic man, older than himself, and felt compelled to kiss him. By the time they travel together to Alaska's glacial wastes, Tim has fallen in and out of love with Ivo; his real passion is now only for Isabel whom he has met in Ivo's absence. The horror of Tim's subsequent journey with Ivo, battling with disgust and despair, may andure in his memory for ever