Ruth Rendell
41) Asta's Book
Asta Westerby is lonely. In 1905, shortly after coming to East London from Denmark with her husband and their two little boys, she feels like a stranger in a strange land. And it doesn’t help that her husband is constantly...
In...
Far from London, the isolated estate called Shrove House looms over the English countryside. Inside, two women hide from the world. For sixteen years, Eve has protected her daughter, Liza, from the corrupting influence of modern life, never letting her outside,...
45) The Minotaur
A nurse is enlisted to care for the mysterious patriarch of a country estate in this "elegant and gripping" novel from a New York Times–bestselling author (The Washington Post).
No sooner does young Swedish nurse Kerstin Kvist arrive for her live-in position at Lydstep Old Hall, an isolated estate deep in the Essex countryside, than she's warned: "There's madness in the family." Specifically, it's that of
Ruth Rendell's impeccable credentials as a mystery writer include three Edgar Awards, four Gold Daggers, and a Diamond Dagger. In The St. Zita Society, the posh London street of Hexam Place might appear as any other, but under the surface lurks a hotbed of intrigue and deceit. So when a murder occurs, the illicit affairs and strained master-servant relations provide all manner of suspects.
47) Loopy
An aging man who still lives with his mother harbors a bizarre secret fetish which he fears will ostracize him from his mother and perhaps leave him without a home if he were discovered. However, he may find that his mother's response to his foible is entirely unexpected, and when the two finally open up to each other, the resulting events are truly shocking. A psychological thriller story about isolation and eccentricity that has a human, empathetic
..."The grand dame of British crime fiction" (Gazette), author Ruth Rendell is known for her brilliantly composed tales of human drama. In the psychological thriller Tigerlily's Orchids, Stuart Font throws a housewarming party in his flat and generously invites the entire building. But the pleasant gathering takes on a deadly tinge when the beautiful but reclusive Asian woman living across the hall—who Stuart calls Tigerlily—casts a spell
...Alan Groombridge had a fantasy. Husband to a woman he didn't like, father of two children he had never wanted, and manager of a tiny bank, Alan was doomed to a life of domestic boredom and tedious routine. All that saved him was that one fantasy: stealing enough of the bank's money to allow him just one year of freedom—one year in which to live a different sort of life.
Alan Groombridge had a fantasy. Husband to a woman he didn't like,
...The potent and murky impulses of desire, greed, obsession and fear combine with deadly results in this compelling psychological thriller from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. Perfect for readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon.
'A fine novel of suspense' — Financial Times
'Rendell's psychological insights are so absorbing, it's easy to forget
There is nothing...
Chief Inspector Wexford is in China, visiting ancient tombs and palaces with a group of British tourists. Is he hallucinating, or does a bent old woman with bound feet follow him everywhere?
Back in England, he is called to a nearby village where a wealthy woman has been found with a bullet in her head. Murdered. He identifies her as one of the China...
That is the question that haunts Wexford when a five-year-old boy and a twelve-year-old girl disappear from the village of Kingsmarkham. When a child's body turns up at an abandoned country home one search turns into a murder investigation and the other turns into a race against time. Filled with pathos and terror, passion, bitterness, and loss, No More Dying Then is Rendell at...
Two things interest Stanley Manning: crossword puzzles, and the substantial sum his wife Vera stands to inherit when his mother-in-law dies. Otherwise, life at 61 Lanchester Road is a living hell. For Mrs. Kinaway lives with them now—and she will stop at nothing to tear their marriage apart. One afternoon, Stanley sets aside his crossword puzzles and changes all their lives forever...
Stuck in a loveless marriage and mired in a troubled affair, Jenny Warner doesn’t have a single friend in whom she can confide. Then she meets Stella Newland, a patient at Middleton Hall, the English manor-house-turned-nursing-home where...
Faith Severn has never understood why the willful matriarch of her high-society family, aunt Vera Hillyard, snapped and murdered her own beloved sister. But long after Vera is condemned to hang, a journalist’s startling discoveries allow Faith to perceive...
Discover a world of heroes and villains, suspense and intrigue. This riveting and comprehensive collection brings together some of the best crime writing of all time. Ruth Rendell and Frances Hegarty spearhead the modern genre, moving through the popular and rarely recorded Graham Greene, to Edgar Wallace and G.K. Chesterton and his master detective Father Brown. And that's not all.
Stories included:
Loopy by Ruth Rendell,...