Ruth Rendell

The lives of three people--Francine, a child who hears her mother's murder while hiding in her room; Harriet, an aging beauty who seeks out handymen to ease her boredom; and Teddy, a young man who had been ignored by his parents since birth--converge with harrowing results.

When a man disappears, two wives search for their missing husband, and all the young women in Kingsmarkham seem to have a motive, Chief Inspector Wexford must untangle a complex web of secrets   Chief Inspector Wexford finds nothing unusual in the disappearance of Rodney Williams, a husband and father who likely has run off with another woman. But when the man's car and suitcase are discovered abandoned, can a body be far behind? Confounded by a...

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,...

From Edgar Award-winning author Ruth Rendell, 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.
Set near London's Regent's Park, where the city's wealthiest, poorest, kindest, and most vicious citizens all cross paths, The Keys to the Street reminds us how interconnected life can be and how we're often surrounded...

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,...

"A female Vicar named Sarah Hussein is discovered strangled in her Kingsmarkham Vicarage. The gossipy cleaning woman who discovers her body, Maxine, happens to also be in the employ of retired Chief Inspector Wexford and his wife. When detective inspector Mike Burden calls him, Wexford, intrigued by the unusual circumstances of the murder, leaps at the chance to tag along with the investigators. A single-mother to a teenage girl, Hussein was a woman...

A street hustler-turned-wealthy businessman races to extricate his childhood sweetheart from the arms of her fiancé before it's too late When Guy Curran, a streetwise hustler from the wrong side of the tracks, falls in love with good-girl Leonora, he knows that one day she will be his wife. But as life leads the two down different paths, Guy's obsessive love takes a murderous turn. Convinced that Leonora's respectable family has conspired against...

An award-winning novel from a New York Times–bestselling author: The long-buried bodies of a woman and child are unearthed on a Suffolk country estate.   When the new owners of Wyvis Hall, a rural estate in Suffolk, set out to bury their pet dog on the grounds, they stumbled upon a ghastly relic: the bones of a woman and small child in a shallow grave. The gruesome find makes stunning headlines, especially so for the previous occupants.   ...

A young boy dies, another goes missing, and one mother's choice will forever alter many lives   When Benet's young son dies on the operating table, she cannot be comforted-not even by her mother who cares for a young boy just about the same age. Meanwhile, another mother's son goes missing, and police circle around possible suspects in what must be murder. These three mothers-the schizophrenic Mopsa, upwardly mobile Benet, and gold-digging Carol-become...