Ruth Rendellová Knihy

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.

Keď raz príde smrť, Keď sa raz vraždilo, Rozlúčka navždy Hlavný inspektor Wexford so svojimi spolupracovníkmi dozerá na dodržiavanie zákonov v Kingsmarkhame, malom městečku neďaleko Londýna. Pokojnú vidiecku atmosféru málokedy naruší udialosť spojená so zločinom, no keď sa tak stane, vzruší sa celé městečko a ochrancovia zákona sa spojenými silami usilujú vypátrať zločinca. Wexford nie je typom výnimočného tvrdého chiapa, má svoje ludské problémy, keď sa však pohrúži do vyšetrovania, cítí sa vo svojom živle. Pátranie po záhadne zmiznutom páťročnom chlapčekovi komplikuje polícii množstvo mýlných informácií a skutočnosť, že pred časom zmizla v městečku malá Stella, zvádza vyšetrovatelov na falošnú stopu. – Pri hladaní vraha mladej ženy Angely polícia má k dispozícii iba jediný odtlačok prsta, ktorý sa našiel v kúpelni. – Takisto nie je lahké zistiť v treťom románe totožnosf mladého dievčaťa, ktoré našli zavražděné na londýnskom cintoríne v rodinnej hrobke. Wexford, tráviaci zdravotnú dovolenku v Londýne, přispěje ako „súkromník" k odhaleniu surového zločinu. Nečakané dějové zvraty, reálie zo života súčasnej anglickej spoločnosti a v neposlednej miere nevtieravý anglický suchý humor, to všetko slubuje příjemný čitatelský zážitok.

V posledných rokoch patrí Ruth Rendellová k najobľúbenejším autorkám detektívnej literatúry v Anglicku. Podobne ako Agatha Christie aj Rendellová vie neopakovateľným spôsobom vystihnúť atmosféru anglického vidieka — navonok tichého a idylického, no pod touto zdanlivo pokojnou hladinou sa skrýva ľudská zloba, nenávisť a ziskuchtivosť, ktoré často vedú k zločinu. Rozvážny inšpektor Wexford so svojím trochu unáhleným pomocníkom Burdenom riešia prípady plné prekvapujúcich zvratov, falošných stôp a čiastočných omylov. K úspechu ich neprivádza zázračná intuícia ani neomylná logika, ale neúnavná rutina. Príbeh Jeden klame, druhý hynie sa odohráva v období, keď v Anglicku vrcholí vlna veľkých hudobných festivalov. Zatiaľ čo nadšené publikum tlieska hviezdam pop-music, v blízkom kameňolome objaví mladá dvojica telo mŕtveho dievčaťa. V druhom príbehu Prefíkaný trik zomiera za podozrivých okolností bohatý starec, flautista svetového mena, a zanecháva po sebe rozprávkové dedičstvo. Na scénu prichádza nádejná dedička, no jej totožnosť je veľmi pochybná... Tretia detektívka Tvár démona je drámou duševne narušeného staršieho muža, v ktorom už od detstva tlejú agresívne sklony. Nečakané udalosti mu odbúrajú aj posledné zábrany a v tej chvíli sa stáva nebezpečným.

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.

Strhujúci príbeh lásky a zločinu. Lásky s tajomnými zákutiami, v ktorých sa pozvoľna spriadajú nitky zločinu, nerozlučného vzťahu milencov spojených prastarým putom, ale i chorobnej posadnutosti minulosťou, silnejšou než čokoľvek ostatné. Keď sa sedemnásťročná Liza dozvie, že musí opustiť romantické zátišie panského sídla, na ktorom žije odmalička ako väzeň pod matkiným prísnym dozorom, zrúti sa jej celý svet. Nielenže je vydaná napospas prostrediu, v ktorom sa musí všetko učiť odznovu, ale postupne odhaľuje hrôzostrašné súvislosti o mužoch, ktorí sa záhadne stratili z jej života.

V slatinách Vangmoor nájdu mŕtvolu mladého dievčaťa so znetvorenou tvárou a ostrihanými vlasmi -prišla o život zdanlivo bez motívu a bez zľutovania.Potom zmizla v slatinách ďalšia mladá žena a okolité dediny a mestečká zachváti strach.Je úlohou polície aby zistila , kto je skutočným vrahom obetí a kde sa ukrýva.

Eunice Parchmanová zavraždila Coverdalovcov, pretože nevedela čítať ani písať. Nemala na to nijaký konkrétny dôvod, vraždu si vopred nenaplánovala, nepriniesla jej zisk ani bezpečie. V dôsledku zločinu sa o Eunicinej neschopnosti dozvedela nielen celá rodina, ale celá krajina. Uplietla na seba bič a kdesi vo svojej mysli tušila, že nič iné ju ani nečaká. A hoci jej priateľka a spolupáchateľka bola šialená, o Eunice to neplatilo. Boh ju obdaril praktickou a jasnou mysľou atavistickej gorily, skrytej pod maskou ženy 20. storočia.

Drusilla - znudená, nestála a bohatá dievčina nahovára Graya na vraždu svojho manžela. Gray je však priveľmi citlivý na to, aby niečo také dokázal urobiť. Vteda sa ich ľúbostný románik končí. Hlboky zosuv do osídiel podvodu a násilia sa však iba začína...

Nič nezväzuje policajtovi ruky väčšmi ako nezvestné dieťa. Na vlastnej koži to pocíti aj inšpektor Wexford poverený vyšetrovaním prípadu strateného chlapca, ktorý súvisí aj so staršími prípadmi zmiznutia maloletých.

..Až kým nevyhrá v športke veľké množstvo peňazí a nerozhodne sa pomôcť svojím novozískaným bohatstvom tým menej šťastným, než je on sám... Finn žije nebezpečným životom a aj on sa dostane k peniazom. Tie jeho však prídu v hotovosti, zabalené v novinách. Finn tiež rád pomôže druhým - ak, pravda, odmena stojí za to. Keby všetko zostalo tak ako predtým, cesty Martina a Finna by sa nikdy neboli skrížili. Lenže Martinove peniaze - ktoré, ako dúfa, zmenia životy neznámych - zmenia aj jeho život. A tak sa napokon dobré úmysly jedného osudným spôsobom prepletú s morbídnou posadnutosťou druhého...

Quentin a Elizabeth Nightingalovci, obyvatelia šľachtického sídla, sú harmonická dvojica. Ak sa manželia zhovárajú iba o počasí, nemajú deti a už to medzi nimi neiskrí ako kedysi, načo by sa hádali? Ktosi však mal dôvod pohádať sa so zrelou, démonicky príťažlivou Elizabeth. Ktosi, čo s ňou trávil večer v lese neďaleko panstva. Ktosi, kto ju ľúbil alebo nenávidel natoľko, že ju ubil na smrť. Citlivý nos inšpektora Wexforda hneď zavetrí, že pod hladinou manželského života sa skrývajú spodné prúdy, o ktorých nemal nikto ani potuchy. Pri vyšetrovaní sa, bohužiaľ, môže zachytiť len o knihu jedného z podozrivých, ktorých stále ubúda

Mary Jagová daruje kostnú dreň, aby zachránila život človeku, ktorého nepozná. Hoci jej nezištný skutok vedie k trpkému rozchodu s priateľom Alistairom, otvárajú sa jej nové možnosti. Muž, ktorého vytrhla z pazúrov smrti, a fascinujúce prostredie centrálneho Londýna, kam sa mladá žena presťahuje, obrátia naruby celý jej život. Okolie Regent´s Parku nie je len výstavná oblasť, známa prepychovými stavbami a nádhernou architektúrou z čias Juraja IV. Je to aj miesto, ktoré priťahuje tulákov, bezdomovcov a narkomanov - skrátka zličin, čo zakrátko potvrdí nález troch mŕtvych obetí napichnutých na hrotoch plota. Zelené srdce veľkomesta - malebné parky, z ktorých dýcha bohatá história, sa stávajú dejiskom ďalšieho citového vzťahu, ktorý sa Mary podarí nadviazať, a kľúčom k vyriešeniu troch prípadov vraždy motivovaných nielen láskou k peniazom, ale i obyčajnou ľudskou tragédiou.

Čo môže viac rozvíriť pokojnú hladinu anglického mestečka, ako zmiznutie mladistvých dievčat, ktoré po návrate odmietajú prezradiť čokoľvek o pozadí únosu? Aj inšpektor Wexford naráža iba na mlčanie znemožňujúce nájsť cestu zo slepej uličky. Návrat neslávne známeho pedofila prepusteného z väzenia, tragická smrť kolegu a najmä vražda jedného z najvplyvnejších mužov v meste ešte prudšie rozkrútia kolesá policajnej mašinérie. Keď sa zistí, že dcéra obete, malá Sanchia Devenishová sa domov nevrátila, inšpektor Wexford je v koncoch...

Ďalší zo série napínavých románov nás zoznámi s Alicou Fieldingovou, žijúcou v malom mestečku. Alica sa vydá za pekného, o deväť rokov mladšieho Andrewa Fieldinga a žije si pokojným životom. Až do chvíle, kým nečakane nezmizne jej priateľka, kvetinárka Nesta Drageová, dovtedy osamelo žijúca vdova, trpiaca depresiami. Nesta sa odsťahuje z mesta a priateľky si vymenia niekoľko listov, až sa po jednom Nesta viac neozve. Alici to nedá a pustí sa do pátrania. Stopy ju privedú až k jej manželovi. Navyše sa u nej objavia záhadné zdravotné problémy, vyhľadá lekára dávneho priateľa Harryho, kde na ňu čaká prekvapenie…

Trojice samostatných psychologických románů (Dvojí tvář, Podoba ďábla, Pochmurný dům) s kriminální zápletkou. V příbězích není podstatné napínavé pátrání po pachateli (ten je většinou známý), ale skutečně dramatickým prvkem je pátrání po příčinách, které přivedou člověkake zločinu. Pochybnými hrdiny románů jsou ve všech případech lidé psychicky labilní, duševně poznamenaní a neurotičtí, v nichž stres nebo odhalení jejich slabosti vyvolává netušené reflexy.

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.

In the long, hot summer of 1976, a group of young people is camping in Wyvis Hall. Adam, Rufus, Shiva, Vivien and Zosie hardly ask why they are there or how they are to live; they scavenge, steal and sell the family heirlooms. In short, they exist. Ten years later, the bodies of a woman and child are discovered in the Hall's animal cemetery. Which woman? Whose child?

This work is set in 1905. Asta and her husband Rasmus have come to east London from Denmark with their two sons. With Rasmus constantly away on business, Asta keeps loneliness and isolation at bay by writing her diary. These diaries, published over seventy years later, reveal themselves to be more than a mere journal, for they seem to hold the key to an unsolved murder, to the quest for a missing child and to the enigma surrounding Asta's daughter, Swanny. It falls to Asta's granddaughter Ann to unearth the buried secrets of nearly a century before.

Sir Manuel Carmargue, one of the greatest flautists of his time, was dead. Misadventure. An old man, ankle-deep in snow, he lost his foothold in the dark, slipping into the water to be trapped under a lid of ice. Only a glove remained to point to where he lay, one of its fingers rising out of the drifts. There's nothing Chief Inspector Wexford likes better than an open-and-shut case. They're so restful. And yet there are one or two niggling doubts - and the disturbing return of Carmargue's daughter, now a considerable heiress, after an absence of nineteen years. Is Wexford going to listen to that nagging inner voice of his? And if he does, what exactly does he plan to do?

Gone with the Wind is a great romantic story of love and war and one of the best-selling books of all time. In Part 2, the American Civil War has destroyed Scarlett O’Hara’s comfortable world. Will she lose her home too? Or can she save it and rebuild her 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 match wits with a would-be murderer. But just how close to the edge of madness must Burden go to catch a killer?   With rich characterization Rendell plumbs the depths of human character, revealing the secrets that lie hidden in the most ordinary lives.

It was some time since Benet had seen her mad mother. So when Mopsa arrived at the airport, looking colourless in a dowdy grey suit, Benet tried not to hate her. But the tragic death of a child begins a chain of deception, kidnap and murder. Domestic dramas exploding into deaths and murders ... threads are drawn together in a lethal pattern.

Jarvis lives in a crumbling house with a view of the Jubilee Line: he loves the tube with all its secrets - its hidden tunnels, its mysterious "ghost" stations, its incidents and accidents, which he records. He lives in a house which was once a school, but now he lets out rooms.

Chief Inspector Wexford is in China, visiting ancient tombs and palaces with a group of British tourists. After their return to England, one of his fellow tourists is found murdered. As he questions other members of the group, Wexford finds secrets of greed, treachery, theft, and adultery, leading the distressed inspector to ask not who is innocent, but who is least guilty . . .

Who could have suspected that the exciting stag party for the groom would be the prelude to the murder of his close friend Charlie Hatton? And Charlie's death was only the first in a string of puzzling murders involving small-time gangsters, cheating husbands, and loose women. Now Chief Inspector Wexford and his assistant join forces with the groom to track down a killer . . .

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.

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

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

A collection of five short mystery stories featuring Chief Inspector Wexford.

Philip Wardman had more than just trhe ordinary squeamishness where death was concerned. Yet he could hardly avoid the suspicious disappearance of his sister's friend Rebecca Neave, especially when everyone was ascribing the cause to murder. Philip's fenimine ideal is the statue of the Roman Goddess Flora in his mother's garden. His marble Flora doesn't fade, doesn't alter, doesn't die. But then he meets Senta Pelham a beautiful, sensual, childlike actress who flgrantly disdains the morals of society and passionately desires the elusive Philip - container.

Unkindness: the collective word for a group of ravens. They are not particularly predatory birds . . . but neither are they soft and submissive. Detective Chief Inspector Wexford thought he was merely doing a neighbourly good deed when he agreed to talk to Joy Williams about her missing husband. And he certainly didn't expect to be investigating a most unusual homicide . . .

Alan Groombridge had a fantasy. Husband to a woman he didn't like, father of two children he had never wanted, and manager of the second smallest branch of the Anglian-Victoria bank in the country, Alan was doomed to a life of domestic boredom and tedious routine. All that saved him was 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. But one day there was no more dreaming and no more games. The Anglian-Victoria bank was robbed and both manager and cashier disappeared. ln place of the dull and dreary repetition that had once existed, there came a brutal, chilling nightmare that might never, never end.

Victor Jenner is a sociopath. After ten years in prison for shooting - and permanently crippling - a young policeman, Victor is released to a strange new world and told to make a new life for himself. And suddenly Victor's new life is starting to look an awful lot like the old one.

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.

Safe houses and secret message drops, double crosses and defections -- it sounds like the stuff of sophisticated espionage, but the agents are only schoolboys engaged in harmless play. But John Creevey doesn't know this. To him, the messages he decodes with painstaking care are the communications of dangerous and evil men, and as he comes face to face with the fact of his beloved wife Jennifer's defection, he begins to see a way to get back at the man she left him for. And soon the schoolboys are playing more than just a game . . .

Like any small community, Linchester has its intrigues: love affairs, money problems, unhappy marriages. But the gossip is elevated to new heights when young Patrick Selby dies on the very night of his beautiful wife's birthday party. The whole neighbourhood was there, witness to the horrible attack of wasp stings Patrick suffered at the end of the evening. But did Patrick die of a wasp sting? Dr. Greenleaf thinks not. Heart failure, more likely . Still, Greenleaf isn't at peace about his death. After all, everyone in Linchester hated Patrick. With the help of a certain naturalist, Dr. Greenleaf begins to think about murder.

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 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 ...

Mystery surrounds the disappearance of Melanie, the local doctor's daughter - Chief Inspector Wexford takes a personal interest in the case___

'In GOING WRONG she has quite simply transformed the genre of crime writing. She deploys her peerless skills in blending the mundane, commonplace aspects of life with the potent, murky impulses of desire and greed, obsession and fear. . this is a book that cannot be taken for granted, and no reader should pass it by. ' ANTHONY CLARE. SUNDAY TIMES

It was a brutal, vicious crime -- sixteen years old. A helpless old woman battered to death with an axe. Harry Painter hung for it, and Chief Inspector Wexford is certain they executed the right man. But Reverend Archery has doubts . . . because his son wants to marry the murderer's beautiful, brilliant daughter. He begins unravelling the past, only to discover that murder breeds murder -- and often conceals even deeper secrets . . .

When Margaret Parsons disappears, Inspector Burden tries to reassure her frantic husband that she will be back by morning. Privately, though, he is certain Margaret has run off with another man. But then the missing woman's body is found, strangled and abandoned in a nearby wood. And when Mr. Parsons lets the police into his home, a startling discovery leads everyone to question just who Margaret Parsons really was . . .

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.

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

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.

A father's worst nightmare. It's first light and George Marshalson's daughter hasn't returned home. He doesn't yet know that she never will -- that her body lies prone just yards from the family house. Or that he will himself make the shocking discovery.

'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.

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.

An omnibus edition of three Ruth Rendell crime novels - "A Demon in My View", "A Judgement in Stone" and "The Face of Trespass".

These 16 stories explore the nightmarish point where sensuality and horror meet. Displaying their unique talents with a focus on dark fantasy, each writer offers a sophisticated tale that will delight fans of horror, erotica, and quality short fiction alike. Authors include Clive Barker, Joyce Carol Oates, Dan Simmons and Doug Clegg.

Four collections of some of Ruth Rendell's greatest original crime thrillers.

This Ruth Rendell omnibus of Inspector Wexford novels includes "A New Lease of Death", "The Best Man to Die", "Wolf to the Slaughter" and "Put On By Cunning". The author won the Crime Writer's Association Gold Dagger in 1976 for "A Demon in my View".

Two long stories, born from surprisingly fertile imaginations... In "The Arbutus," Ruth Rendell portrays an English family on vacation in Spain whose summer is marred by a mysterious and heartbreaking event. In a long flashback, the sister recalls the cursed stay: the exoticism of Mediterranean holidays intertwines with the bitterness of a fate forever marked by tragedy. Forever? Of course not, as Rendell reserves a series of twists for the end that are both subtle and skillful. This great mistress of suspense has invited a young talent, Helen Simpson, to appear alongside her in this volume. Simpson's story, "Flesh and Grass," immerses us in a macabre world populated by sinister characters: a chef with strange recipes, a perverse doctor engaged in dubious machinations, a little girl murdered in the forest... Woven with strange atmospheres and an unusual style, this text takes us into a decidedly unsettling universe.

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

An omnibus edition of three Inspector Wexford mysteries - Wolf to the Slaughter, Put on by Cunning and The Speaker of Mandarin.

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.

The Hillyard family appears respectable, but beneath the surface, Vera and her younger sister Eden are engaged in a fierce and secretive struggle over a hidden truth.

This omnibus includes three Inspector Wexford novels, Some Lie and Some Die, Shake Hands Forever and A Sleeping Life. The author has won three Gold Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers Association and three Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America.

There are only two things in life that interest Stanley: solving crossword puzzles, and getting his hands on his mother-in-law's money. And in all those years it has never once occurred to Stanley that she would try to outsmart him and the money might never be his.

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 . . .

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

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

Detective Mike Burden's wife has just died, and his sister-in-law is staying at his house to help take care of his two children. He is so utterly miserable, and grief stricken, that he can't see how much they all need him to focus himself on his home life. Partially because of his inability to deal with his personal life, when a 5-year-old boy disappears, he throws himself whole-heartedly into the investigation. He becomes over involved with the boy's mother. The recent disappearance of a 12-year-old girl makes the case more worrisome.

Most people would have screamed. Mrs Hathall made no sound. She had seen death many times, but she had never witnessed death by violence. Heavily, she plodded across the room and descended the stairs to where her son waited. "There's been an accident," she said. "Your wife's dead." Chief Inspector Wexford could discover no motive, no reason, no suspect. All he had were his own intuitive suspicions. Probably he was reading meaning where there was none; probably Angela Hathall really had picked up a stranger, and that stranger had killed her. But why such doubt? Is Wexford becoming cynical and untrusting? Or is this simply one of the most ingenious crimes he has ever tackled?

When Sandor snatched little Joe from the path of a London Tube train, he was quick to make clear the terms of the rescue. 'I saved your life,' he told the homeless youngster, 'so your life belongs to me now'. Sandor began to tell him a fairy-tale: an ageing prince, a kidnapped princess chained by one ankle, a missed rendezvous.

Eleven masterful, eerie suspense tales by the outstanding English mystery writer show what happens when the sinister thoughts of ordinary people are unleashed

Susan Townsend was the only resident with no interest in her next-door neighbour's affair. Yet it was Susan who found the bodies of the lovers, locked not in passion, but in death.

The seventh book to feature the classic crime-solving detective, Chief Inspector Wexford. But then he discovers that his nephew Howard is heading the investigation into the macabre murder of Loveday Morgan, whose body was found abandoned in Kenbourne Cemetery.

Rhoda Comfrey's death seemed unremarkable; the real mystery was her life. In A Sleeping Life , master mystery writer Ruth Rendell unveils an elaborate web of lies and deception painstakingly maintained by a troubled soul. A wallet found in Comfrey's handbag leads Inspector Wexford to Mr. Grenville West, a writer whose plots revel in the blood, thunder, and passion of dramas of old; whose current whereabouts are unclear; and whose curious secretary--the plain Polly Flinders--provides the Inspector with more questions than answers. And when a second Grenville West comes to light, Wexford faces a dizzying array of possible scenarios--and suspects--behind the Comfrey murder. Brilliantly entertaining, exceptionally crafted, A Sleeping Life evokes the dark realities, half-truths, and flights of fancy that constitute a life.

Murder, corruption, blackmail. All these are part of someone else's world, not part of the everyday lives of ordinary people...or are they? This is a collection of sinister stories from the bestselling author who won The Sunday Times Literary Award for 1990.

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

Sixteen-year-old Elvira's mother is dead. Elvira is sad, of course, but not so sad as her younger sister Spinny. Spinny is afraid their father, Luke, will be heartbroken, but Elvira knows better -- after all, Luke has her to take her mother's place. But then Luke brings home a pretty young woman and introduces her as his fiancee, and Elvira decides that she will stop at nothing to stop her father's marriage . . .

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.