Ruth Rendell

Chief Inspector Wexford and his team of police officers race against time to learn the identity of a group of environmental terrorists who have kidnapped and are threatening to kill five hostages, one of whom is Wexford's wife, Dora.

A young woman, sheltered from the outside world, comes to terms with her deluded, murderous mother-and what she must do to survive   When the police come to the door at the gatehouse of a remote British estate, sixteen-year-old Liza and her mother know that their lives are about to change forever. After all, Liza watched her mother kill a man-well, more than just one. Having lived as a virtual hermit on the estate, Liza knows nothing of the outside...

A man falls under the spell of a mysterious woman, a marble statue, and a lover's promise - and must confront his role in the violence and death that follow. Meeting Senta, a woman who looks like a certain marble statue of the goddess Flora, is just about the most extraordinary thing that has happened to otherwise ordinary Philip, who dutifully cares for his mother and sisters in the London suburbs. But as their secret trysts evolve into an all-consuming...

As their worlds collide, an ex-con and his victim struggle to make sense of their violent past and forge a new future   When Victor Jenner emerges from prison he finds himself inexorably drawn to the man who put him there-the policeman he'd shot a bullet through and paralyzed for life. But it seems that David Fleetwood isn't the sort to hold a grudge, and neither is his ravishing girlfriend, Clare. But can an ex-con like Victor create a new life,...

Chief Inspector Wexford, injured in a car bombing, must rely on Detective Mike Burden to catch a killer in what appears to be a murder without motive   Chief Inspector Wexford couldn't know that the bundle of rags in the parking garage concealed a body-he'd just been doing a bit of light shopping, after all, not looking for dead housewives. Wexford won't be on the case for long; a car bomb sends him to the hospital, and Inspector Mike Burden must...

When four bodies are discovered in the same underground sewer 12 years after the events of A Sight for Sore Eyes, former Chief Inspector Wexford is pulled out of retirement to follow a complex trail to the original murders only to have his life thrown into turmoil by a devastating personal tragedy.

Life for the residents and servants of Hexam Place appears placid and orderly on the outside: drivers take their employers to and from work, dogs are walked, flowers are planted in gardens, and Christmas candles lit uniformly in windows. But beneath this tranquil veneer, the upstairs-downstairs relationships are set to combust. Henry, the handsome valet to Lord Studley, is sleeping with both the Lord's wife and his university-age daughter. Montserrat,...

There hadn't been anything like this kind of rain in living memory. The River Brede had burst its banks, and not a single house in the valley had escaped flooding. Even where Wexford lived, higher up in Kingsmarkham, the waters had nearly reached the mulberry tree in his once immaculate garden. The Subaqua Task Force could find no trace of Giles and Sophie Dade, let alone the woman who was keeping them company, Joanna Troy. But Mrs. Dade was still...

A man yearns to win back his wife's love and wreak vengeance on her lover with the help of a secret ring of spies. Dead drops, coded messages, and a safe house - it's all make-believe for a teenage spy ring. But when John Creevey intercepts the messages and believes them to be the work of a real crime syndicate, the spy games turn deadly serious in a fiery cocktail of obsession and revenge. Ruth Rendell expertly layers her narrative to reveal the...

When Stuart Font decides to throw a house warming party in his new flat he invites everyone in his building. The party will be one everyone remembers; but not for the right reasons. 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 on the occupants of Lichfield House.