Ruth Rendell Biography - life, family, childhood, children, name, story, wife, school, mother - Newsmakers Cumulation Ruth Rendell Biography Author Ruth Rendell Born Ruth Barbara Grasemann, February 17, 1930, in London, England; daughter of Arthur (a teacher) and Ebba Elise (a teacher; maiden name, Kruse) Grasemann; married Donald John Rendell, 1950 (divorced, 1975; remarried, 1977; died, 1999); children: Simon. Addresses: Agent —Sterling Lord Agency, 660 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10021. Contact —11 Maida Ave., Little Venice, London W2 1SR United Kingdom; Cherry Tree Cottage, Groton, Suffolk, United Kingdom. Home —26 Cornwall Terrence, Mews, London NW1 5LL United Kingdom. Office —House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW United Kingdom.

Career Began writing at the age of 15; reporter, Chigwell Times , England, 1948–52; published first novel, the beginning of the Inspector Wexford series, From Doom to Death , 1964; published first novel under Barbara Vince pseudonym, A Dark-Adapted Eye , 1985; published twentieth Wexford novel, End in Tears , 2005.

Awards: Edgar Allan Poe Award, Mystery Writers of America, for "The Fallen Curtain," 1974; Edgar Allan Poe Award, Mystery Writers of America, for The Fallen Curtain and Other Stories , 1976; Gold Dagger Award, Crime Writers Association, for A Demon in My View , 1977; Arts Council National Book Award for genre fiction, 1981; British Arts Council bursary, 1981; British National Book Award, for The Lake of Darkness , 1981; Popular Culture Association Award, 1983; Silver Dagger Award, Crime Writers Association, for The Tree of Hands , 1984; Edgar Allan Poe Award, Mystery Writers of America, for "The New Girlfriend," 1984; Edgar Allan Poe Award, Mystery Writers of America, for A Dark-Adapted Eye , 1986; Gold Dagger Award, Crime Writers Association, for Live Flesh , 1986; Gold Dagger Award, Crime Writers Association, for A Fatal Inversion , 1987; Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence, 1990; Gold Dagger Award, Crime Writers Association, 199

1; Diamond Dagger Award, 1991; named Commander of the British Empire, 1996; given peerage and joined House of Lords, 1997.

Sidelights Known as the "Queen of Crime," British mystery/suspense author Ruth Rendell has been publishing novels since 1964. She has produced about one to two books per year, and sold at least 20 million copies of more than 60 novels translated into 25 languages worldwide. Rendell began her writing career with the Inspector Wexford series, but evolved over time to embrace psychological thrillers and suspense novels with a social and political conscience. Fellow acclaimed mystery author P.D. James told Michael Neill of People , "No one has explored with greater sensitivity and compassion those dark recesses of the human psyche. She is one of the remarkable novelists of her generation." Born in 1930 in London, Rendell was the daughter of Arthur and Ebba Grasemann, who both worked as teachers. Raised in the suburban area east of London called Leyton, she was the only child of an unhappy marriage. Her mother was a native of Sweden who suffered from multiple sclerosis and died when Rendell was still young. Rendell created an inner self to deal with her difficult life at home.

People 's Neill quoted her as saying about the situation: "There was always a great deal of arguing, quarreling, shrieking, threatening. I hated it." Receiving her education at Loughton County High School, Rendell began writing fiction, both short stories and novels, when she was 15 years old. She tried to get these stories published in women's magazines, but they were rejected. After completing her education, Rendell worked as a writer of a different kind. From 1948 to 1952, she worked as a reporter for the Chigwell Times , a small paper in a London suburb. Though she liked working as a journalist, she was a fiction writer inside. Of the experience, she told Gillian MacKay of Maclean's , "The facts weren't enough—I wanted to embroider them." Rendell's job at the paper introduced her to her husband, Donald Rendell, who was her boss and fellow journalist. The couple married in 1950, and had their only child, Simon, in 1953.

Leaving the paper before his birth, Rendell focused on her family, home, and writing unpublished novels for her own pleasure for several years. She did not try to get any of her novels published until the mid-1960s. In 1964, Rendell published her novel, From Doom to Death , and was paid the equivalent of about $210 for the manuscript. The book was standard detective fiction, the genre of her writing in which the publishers were most interested. It also introduced the character of Reginald Wexford, a police chief inspector in the fictional village of Kindmarkham who loved books and his family. For the first decade of her writing career, most of her books were in the Wexford series, which developed a loyal fan following. The returning characters in the Wexford novels evolved over time, becoming richer and deeper, though still operating within the detective fiction genre. Rendell used a specific technique to write her detective novels like those featuring Wexford. She worked out the plot idea and who will commit the crime before she started writing. She told Michael Hanlon of the Toronto Star , "I write intending this Perpetrator X in mind.

I write without letting my readers know that it's X." But when she got to the last chapter, she usually found that someone else is the killer. Rendell told Hanlon, "If I can hide him from myself, I feel I can hide him or her from the reader." As Rendell established herself as a writer with an expectant audience, she found the detective genre limiting in its form and began to branch out in the mid-1970s. She began writing psychological thrillers about psychopathic characters. The first was A Demon in My View . Published in 1977, the book was several awards. Rendell followed this with A Judgment in Stone . This novel was about an illiterate young maid who kills the family she works for when she grows angry because her employer insists on repeatedly leaving written notes for her. Though Rendell continued to produce Wexford novels on a regular basis, she was writing more and more psychological fiction by the mid-1980s.

As a writer in the Observer noted of the changing focus of her books, "Cast adrift from the comforting Wexford and his placid, home-making wife, nosing into the minds of psychopaths, rapists, child abusers, and murderers, free-falling through the strata of society to reach the world of the outcast and the obsessive, her books are chilling witnesses to how dangerous a place the world can be." In 1986, Rendell took her evolution as a writer a step further when she began publishing a different kind of psychological suspense/thriller type of novel. She adopted the pseudonym Barbara Vine for these books. (Barbara is her middle name, while Vine was her great-grandmother's maiden name.) She found adopting another name gave her the freedom to break into new territory as a writer. She told Sarah Lyall of the New York Times , "It's more than another name; it's another identity. Once I was Barbara Vine, I could do something else." The books published under the Vine name differed from the non-Wexford books published under Rendell's name in that her Vine novels focused on the mind of the criminal and those with pathological, sometimes obsessive, problems.

The Vine novels were usually written from the criminal's first-person point-of-view and often had horrific aspects to them. The first Vine novel was A Dark-Adapted Eye , about a murder within a family. Another significant Vine title was 1991's King Solomon's Carpet , about a man who spends nearly all his time in the London Underground, the subway system, looking for concealed stations and unmarked lines. While Rendell used the Vine pseudonym regularly, she still published psychological fiction under her own name as well. These novels were more about the crime itself as well as the person committing them. She wanted people to understand the horror of the crimes—and the people who commit them—to help change society and not allow people to deny the truths about such situations. To write such books, Rendell did no research into real-life serial killers nor did she meet known criminals face to face. Instead, she just read books on psychology and was sometimes inspired by conversations with her son, a psychiatric social worker who lived in Colorado. She told Jan Moir of the Ottawa Citizen , "You don't need to meet criminals. Your imagination does that for you.

It's a bit disconcerting to think that because you can get into the mind of a psychopath and write about it, then people suppose you are like that yourself." One of Rendell's best known psychological thrillers published under her name was 1986's Live Flesh , which was later adapted into a film by Pedro Almadovar. The story focuses on a rapist named Victor who does not feel any remorse. He is a sexual psychopath, and the novel gives readers an understanding of him from the inside out. A few years later, she published another psychologically intense novel about sex crime. The Bridesmaid , published in 1989, centers around Senta, a young woman who lures Phillip, a regular guy from a suburb of London, into her world of predatory sexuality. She insists obsessively that they both must murder someone to prove their love. Throughout her career, Rendell received numerous honors. In 1991, she won her fourth Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger Award, a record. Rendell continued to publish challenging books as well. In 1993's The Crocodile Bird , for example, she explores the world of a traumatized mother who becomes a murderer.

This mother will not let her daughter have any contact with everyday society. She isolates her daughter in a cabin in the country and kills all men who enter. By the time Rendell celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of her publishing career in 1994, she was making changes to the Wexford novels. Wanting to break out of the detective genre conventions a little more, she changed the focus on the novels with 1995's Simisola . While still a detective novel, it also reflected the author's social and political concerns as the story touches on the devastating effect of unemployment and racism while a young woman's disappearance drives the book. In 1994, Rendell published another novel under the Vine name with No Night Is Too Long . This novel focuses on Tim Cornish, a young man with literary ambitions who thinks he has gotten away with murder but might not have. Another significant Vine book was published four years later. The Chimney Sweeper's Boy is about a writer named Gerald Candless whose death by heart attack in chapter one is explored. His daughters learn he is not the man they thought he was as his writings reveal the depths of his terrible childhood which haunted the whole of his life.

Another significant honor came Rendell's way in the mid-1990s. In 1996, she was named Commander of the British Empire and a life peer. As a result, the following year, Rendell, now Baroness of Alderburgh, began serving in the House of Lords as a member of the Labour Party. Throughout her career, Rendell had used her position to further her charitable work and was an activist supporting environmental and social causes. She found a new forum for such activities in the House of Lords, where she voted regularly and helped reform the House itself over the next decade. Though Rendell was politically active, she continued to produce books on a regular basis. By 1999, the books published under Rendell's name, including the Wexford series, were having more in common with the books she published as Vine. She even included her intimate knowledge of the House of Lords in the Vine novel The Blood Doctor , published in 2002. The book is narrated by a Lord Nanther, who explores his own family's past and learns of a murder while writing a biography of his great-grandfather.

Rendell continued to publish into the early 2000s, including 2004's Thirteen Steps Down . Set in London's Notting Hill, the novel focuses on Mix, who is not fully sane inside yet is rather bland outside, and his elderly landlady, Gwendolen Chawcer, who is withdrawn and odd. Mix has an obsession about a famous serial killer who once lived in the area, John Christie, and ends up committing murder himself. By 2005, Rendell sold more than 20 million copies of all of her books worldwide, with the 20 Wexford novels being best sellers, including 2005's End in Tears . This novel is about young mothers being murdered as well as a complicated situation involving a baby in Wexford's own life. For the whole of her career, Rendell was very regimented in her writing. She wrote at home every morning for several hours, and, after joining in the House of Lords, spent every afternoon there when the Lords were in session. Rendell also often walked several miles per day, an exercise which helped her work out her stories.

She claimed to write easily and never suffered from writer's block. Writing was always the focus of her life and was expected to be until her death. She told Moir in the Ottawa Citizen , "I don't feel that I churn anything out, ever. If I did, I would stop. I am quite happy to go on doing what I am doing now for the rest of my life. I don't see why I shouldn't." Selected writings Mystery novels featuring Inspector Wexford From Doom to Death , John Long (London, England), 1964; Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1965. Sins of the Father , 1967; published in the United States as A New Lease of Death , Doubleday, 1967. Wolf to the Slaughter , John Long, 1967; Doubleday, 1968. The Best Man to Die , John Long, 1969; Doubleday, 1970. A Guilty Surprise , Doubleday, 1970. No More Dying Then , Hutchinson, 1971; Doubleday, 1972.

Murder Being Once Done , Doubleday, 1972. Some Lie and Some Die , Doubleday, 1973. Shake Hands Forever , Doubleday, 1975. A Sleeping Life , Doubleday, 1978. Put On by Cunning , Hutchinson, 1981. The Speaker of Mandarin , Pantheon, 1983. An Unkindness of Ravens , Pantheon, 1985. The Veiled One , Pantheon, 1988. Kissing the Gunner's Daughter , Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1992. Simisola , Random House (New York, NY), 1995. Road Rage , Crown (New York, NY), 1997. Harm Done: An Inspector Wexford Mystery , Crown, 1999. The Babes in the Wood , Crown, 2002. End in Tears , Hutchinson, 2005; published in the United States as End in Tears: A Wexford Novel , Crown, 2006.

Other mystery novels To Fear a Painted Devil , Doubleday, 1965. Vanity Dies Hard , John Long, 1966; published in United States as In Sickness and in Health , Doubleday, 1966. The Secret House of Death , John Long, 1968; Doubleday, 1969. One Across, Two Down , Doubleday, 1971. The Face of Trespass , Doubleday, 1974. A Demon in My View , Doubleday, 1977. A Judgment in Stone , Hutchinson, 1977; Doubleday, 1978. Make Death Love Me , Doubleday, 1979. The Lake of Darkness , Doubleday, 1980. Death Notes , Pantheon, 1981. Master of the Moor , Pantheon, 1982. The Killing Doll , Pantheon, 1984. The Tree of Hands , Pantheon, 1984. Live Flesh , Pantheon, 1986.

Heartstones , Harper (New York, NY), 1987. Talking to Strangers , Hutchinson, 1987; published in United States as Talking to Strange Men , Pantheon, 1987. The Bridesmaid , Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1989. Going Wrong , Mysterious Press, 1990. The Crocodile Bird , Crown, 1993. Ginger and the Kingsmarkham Chalk Circle , Phoenix (London, England), 1996. The Keys to the Street , Random House (New York, NY), 1996. Whydunit (Perfectly Criminal 2 ), Seven House (London, England), 1997. Bloodlines , Wheeler (Rockland, MA), 1997. Thornapple , Travelman (London, England), 1998. A Sight for Sore Eyes: A Novel , Crown, 1999. Adam and Eve and Pinch Me , Crown, 2001. The Rottweiler , Crown, 2003.

Thirteen Steps Down , Hutchinson, 2004; Crown, 2005. The Water's Lovely , Hutchinson, 2006. Short story collections The Fallen Curtain and Other Stories , Hutchinson, 1976; published in United States as The Fallen Curtain: Eleven Mystery Stories by an Edgar Award-Winning Writer , Doubleday, 1976. Means of Evil and Other Stories , Hutchinson, 1976; published in United States as Five Stories by an Edgar Winning-Winning Writer , Doubleday, 1980. The Fever Tree and Other Stories , Hutchinson, 1979; published in United States as The Fever Tree and Other Stories of Suspense , Doubleday, 1980. The New Girlfriend and Other Stories , Hutchinson, 1985; published in the United States as The New Girlfriend and Other Stories of Suspense , Pantheon, 1986. The Copper Peacock and Other Stories , Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 1991. Blood Lines: Long and Short Stories , Crown, 1996.

Piranha to Scurfy and Other Stories , Vintage (New York, NY), 2002. Mystery novels (as Barbara Vine) A Dark-Adapted Eye , Viking (New York, NY), 1985. A Fatal Inversion , Bantam (New York, NY), 1987. The House of Stairs , Harmony Books (New York, NY), 1989. Gallowglass , Harmony Books, 1990. King Solomon's Carpet , Harmony Books, 1991. Anna's Book , Harmony Books, 1993. No Night Is Too Long , Harmony Books, 1994. The Brimstone Wedding , Harmony Books, 1996. The Chimney Sweeper's Boy: A Novel , Harmony Books, 1998. Grasshopper , Harmony Books, 2000. The Blood Doctor , Shaye Areheart Books (New York, NY), 2002. The Minotaur , Viking (New York, NY), 2005.

Sources Author Ruth Rendell dies aged 85 Author Ruth Rendell dies aged 85 Crime writer Ruth Rendell has died aged 85, her publisher says. She wrote more than 60 novels in a career spanning 50 years, her best-known creation being Inspector Wexford, which was turned into a highly successful TV series. Rendell, one of Britain's best-selling contemporary authors, also wrote under the pen-name Barbara Vine. Born in Essex, she is credited with bringing a social and psychological dimension to crime fiction. Publisher Penguin Random House said Rendell, who suffered a stroke in January, died in London on Saturday morning. "We are devastated by the loss of one of our best-loved authors," the publisher said in a statement. Penguin Random House chair, Baroness Gail Rebuck, said Rendell was admired throughout publishing for her "brilliant body of work".

"An insightful and elegant observer of society, many of her award-winning thrillers and psychological murder mysteries highlighted the causes she cared so deeply about." Rendell's first Wexford book, From Doon with Death, was published in 1964, beginning a series of more than 20 starring Inspector Reginald Wexford, played in the TV series by George Baker. Many of her works were translated into more than 20 languages and adapted for cinema and TV, attracting worldwide sales of 60 million. She was the author of more than 20 standalone novels, whose protagonists were often on the margins of society, and was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for excellence in crime writing. Her final novel, Dark Corners, is due to be published in October. Rendell began her writing career as a reporter on an Essex newspaper. However, she was forced to resign after filing a story about a local sports club dinner that she hadn't attended. Her report failed to mention that the after-dinner speaker had died half-way through the speech.

Rendell, whose writing brought her considerable wealth, was made a Labour life peer in 1997 and is reputed to have given generously to charity. She was a vocal campaigner against female genital mutilation. Labour leader Ed Miliband tweeted she would be missed greatly by the party. She was born Ruth Barbara Grasemann in 1930 in South Woodford to a Swedish mother and British father. Rendell married Don Rendell, a journalist, in 1953. They divorced 22 years later but remarried each other within two years. She is survived by their son. by Anonymous She was a great author by Anonymous reply 1 05/03/2015 I have been trying to broaden my reading list and am reading a Rendell right now. It is about two hands found in a box. I am kind of struggling with it because it seems slow and choppy. Can someone recommend a title that would be good for someone trying to get into her work? TIA by Anonymous reply 2 05/04/2015 I loved A Fatal Inversion, which is one of her Barbara Vine novels.

I didn't much care for the Wexford procedurals, but there are so many that I'm sure a number are good. Here's a list to start with. by Anonymous George Baker (Inspector Wexford), died a few years ago, aged 80. Probably best-known for playing Tiberius in 'I, Claudius' opposite Derek Jacobi & Sian Phillips. by Anonymous R2, read A Judgement in Stone. She was one of my favourite authors. A great writer. by Anonymous From her Barabara Vine books, I really enjoyed The Birthday Present. Haven't read any others. by Anonymous I second the recommendation for A Judgement in Stone. by Anonymous reply 7 05/04/2015 What was her obsession with gay characters in her mysteries? I watched a number of her stuff from the BBC and she had a lot of bizarre situations with gays. by Anonymous reply 8 05/04/2015 I have to say I also loved 'A Judgment in Stone'. I loved that despite knowing the outcome from the first line I still kept hoping. Fantastic writing.

by Anonymous reply 9 05/04/2015 And I third Judgement in Stone. If you aren't grabbed by the first sentence, you aren't sentient. She appeared at YMHA several months ago and seemed very frail. With the death of P.D. James last year, the grande dames of mystery and suspense are gone. by Anonymous The first page from A Judgement in Stone. by Anonymous reply 11 05/04/2015 R9 here. I should also add that the Wexford books are eminently readable. As the Guardian's obit mentioned, Wexford is an ordinary man with plenty of faults and an interesting character. He isn't Sherlock Holmes, Lord Peter Wimsey, Albert Campion, Inspector Linley or any of those other upper class sleuths that seem to abound in English crime fiction. by Anonymous reply 12 05/04/2015 Never got past page 8 of Rendell's/Vine's books, and I tried several. Same with P D James. Though I did find Christie readable.

by Anonymous reply 13 05/04/2015 R12 While Inspector Lynley is very upper crust Brit, his creator, Elizabeth George, is very Pacific Northwest, resident in Whidbey Island, Seattle. by Anonymous reply 14 05/04/2015 Her latest books were crippled by her ham-handed efforts to be politically correct. Too bad, because she was a great writer--although her first novels weren't that great (really, who DIDN'T guess the guilty party in "From Doon With Death" a hundred pages before the ending?) My personal favorites were her Barbara Vine novels: "A Dark-Adapted Eye" is unforgettable. Of the ones she wrote under her actual name, "The Tree of Hands" and "A Judgment in Stone" were the best. Her short stories are really good. Try "The Queen of the Cats" and "The Fever Tree." by Anonymous reply 15 05/04/2015 Thanks R12, I realised I actually confused Lynley with Alleyn although Ngaoi Marsh was a New Zealander but all of that ilk.

I think I have possibly read one Lynley novel some years ago and it was quite good. by Anonymous 05/04/2015 R2, read A Dark Adapted Eye R15, the "politically correct" crap makes me think you probably read a lot of Ann Coulter books by Anonymous reply 17 05/04/2015 Her best novels were the stand-alone ones which, as far as I'm concerned, were not "crime novels" at all (and certainly not mysteries, so don't read them in that mindset); simply great novels concerning violence and crime in "proper" society, something very few writers handle in a meaningful way. Aside from [italic]A Judgment in Stone[/italic], take your pick from: [italic]One Across, Two Down A Demon in My View Make Death Love Me The Lake of Darkness The Killing Doll Live Flesh Talking to Strange Men The Bridesmaid The Crocodile Bird A Sight for Sore Eyes Adam and Eve and Pinch Me The Girl Next Door[/italic] by Anonymous reply 18 05/04/2015 R17--really, dear, you insult me.

If you re-read what I wrote, you will (I hope) realize that you have done me a great wrong, sir (or madam)! Hmph. reply 20 05/04/2015 Is she the one who, as a teen in NZ, killed a woman, with another teen girl accomplice? There was a Kate..."Rose" from "Titanic"... film about it. Can't recall her last name. It's RockNRoll now. I remember seeing a TV drama adapting one of her stories, starring the incredibly sexy, handsome, gone-too-soon Mark Frankel (from "Kindred:The Embraced") Winslut? reply 21 05/04/2015 A Fatal Inversion and A Dark-Adapted Eye are her two best stand alone novels, both written under her pseudonym Barbara Vine. I think some of the best Wexford novels are the ones written in the mid 1970s, including A Sleeping Life, Murder Being Once Done, Some Lie and Some Die and No More Dying Then. by Anonymous R21, that was Anne Perry. Read The Cater Street Hangman.

by Anonymous reply 29 05/05/2015 Thanks for all the suggestions. They are duly noted and will fill my summer list unless I find she is just not my style. Someone mentioned Anne Perry, I think I will check her out also. Thanks again. by Anonymous reply 30 05/05/2015 The Victorian mysteries written by Anne Perry are very entertaining and readable, but if you watch the film Heavenly Creatures (her character is played by Kate Winslet), it will definitely fuck with your head. After she was released from prison she went on to live with her mother and took her stepfather's name, Perry. by Anonymous reply 31 05/05/2015 "A Fatal Inversion" was made into a very good miniseries back in the early 1990s, starring a young Jeremy Northam as one of the medical students/house mates. by Anonymous reply 32 05/05/2015 Anne Perry's best cannot hold a candle to Ruth Rendell at her best (which are about 1/2 of her 60 books).

by Anonymous No question about it, R33. We shouldn't have let ourselves get derailed. by Anonymous reply 34 05/05/2015 Yeah, I've heard Anne Perry is a pretty inconsistent writer, R33. She's a total sociopath, though. Shameless and obviously unrepentant. I might check out her work just for that. Could be interesting to see how a sociopathic murderer writes about murder, I guess. by Anonymous reply 35 05/05/2015 Well, R35, she still has a pretty good grasp of what society does and doesn't accept. A good mimic, I guess. by Anonymous reply 36 05/05/2015 Well, she's not at all stupid, R36. But from the interviews I've read/seen, she doesn't strike me as that good of a mimic. When asked if she's ever thought about the victim, she says: "No, why whould I do that, she was someone I hardly even knew". Claims she doesn't want to talk about it, but still does, coinciding with a new book coming out.

And always tries to blame it all on her friend/lover, and minimize her own guilt, even tries to seem heroic, i.e. says the murder was a stupid thing to do, but she was only doing it to save her friend from imminent suicide - pretty brazen claim given that the other one's diary doesn't support it, and the diary's highly unlikely to be fabricated, as it's well established that Hulme/Perry herself read it regularly. The only thing that's confusing me is the religious stuff. Why would a sociopath feel the need to become crazy devout after getting out of prison and and give away tithes and go along with all the other tiresome religious stuff? It's not like being a Mormon in Scotland is useful and puts her in some sort of position of power. Though I guess getting your very own planet does sound right up a narcissist's alley. So I'm definitely curious what her writing might reflect. by Anonymous Meanwhile, Ruth Rendell is still dead. by Anonymous reply 38 05/05/2015 Thank you, R38. We can do another thread but this is a Ruth Rendell thread. Hijacking just feels inappropriate.

by Anonymous reply 39 05/06/2015 I never understood why Rendell's fame and importance as a mystery writer was always eclipsed by PD James. Rendell was far more talented, her books had a much wider range and she was far more prolific. She never really caught on in the US like James did. by Anonymous reply 40 05/06/2015 Sorry, back on topic. PD James wasn't a favorite of mine, R40, but all her early stuff I read was solid enough to keep reading, and some of it was great. But someone really should've advised her to stop writing in old age, her talent was gone. With Rendell, the one B. Vine book I tried I found so disappointingly dull that I never gave her another chance (other than catching a few Rendell Mysteries on TV). Maybe I should. Maybe A Judgement in Stone, since it's so popular. by Anonymous reply 41 05/06/2015 [post redacted because independent.co.uk thinks that links to their ridiculous rag are a bad thing.

Somebody might want to tell them how the internet works. Or not. We don't really care. They do suck though. Our advice is that you should not click on the link and whatever you do, don't read their truly terrible articles.] by Anonymous GALLOWGLASS.: Ruth. (Writing as Barbara Vine) Rendell: Amazon.com: Books By Kindle Customer on April 3, 2008 Format: Mass Market Paperback The hallmark of truly great fiction --- as opposed to merely good fiction --- is that you find yourself thinking about the characters as if they were real people. I've just finished reading GALLOWGLASS for the second time, and I feel as if I know the characters. As in A FATAL INVERSION, many of the major characters are not particularly sympathetic people. GALLOWGLASS, however, presents Vine's typically obsessed and morally compromised people in a that allows you to identify with them --- up to a point. Little Joe is an orphan, clinically depressed, who is rescued from suicide by a young man who calls himself Sandor. Little Joe, who has known almost no affection in his life, becomes Sandor's devoted servant, his Gallowglass.

Sandor has a love of his own, a former fashion model, whom he calls the Princess, now married to her third wealthy husband, and he enlists Little Joe in a mad scheme to kidnap her. This is a brilliant study of obsession --- both the doglike, unconditional devotion of Little Joe for the mad Sandor, and the childish, possessive, utterly self-centered fixation of Sandor for the Princess. GALLOWGLASS also tells the story of Paul Garnet, the Princess's bodyguard, whose relationship with her becomes more complex. These characters are more clearly sympathetic and balance the brutish self-centeredness of Sandor and his quest to possess the Princess. As is usually the case with Barbara Vine, the novel is almost impossible to put down. The characters are utterly lifelike and the narrative moves like a bullet train. Highly recommended for fans of Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine. Also recommended is the TV adaptation, although this is available on DVD only in Region 2 (Europe) format. It's not hard to find a used copy of the VHS tape, however.

Ruth Rendell (Barbara Vine) | Famous Authors with Secret Pseudonyms | TIME.com Famous Authors with Secret Pseudonyms By Samantha Grossman @sam_grossman July 14, 2013 Jerry Bauer / AP The prolific English mystery writer Ruth Rendell took up the unassuming pen name Barbara Vine in 1986. Under that name, she released 14 novels. As the author once explained to the National Post , the two distinct bylines offered the opportunity to hone two distinct voices. The works published under her real name feature more “excitement” and “sensation” while the works published under the pseudonym “don’t have any sort of mystery in them, they don’t have any revelations, really. They’re just really about people.” The author also said she used Vine to explore specific topics, like the evolution of morality. Oh, and Rendell’s got another alter ego too: she was made a a CBE in 1996 and her official title is Baroness Rendell of Babergh. Barbara Vine author information Barbara Vine author biography, plus links to books by Barbara Vine.

Author Snapshot Barbara Vine Barbara Vine is the pen-name of Ruth Rendell. Ruth Rendell sits in the House of Lords as a Labour peer. She lives in Maida Vale, London. This biography was last updated on 03/10/2009. A note about the biographies We try to keep BookBrowse's biographies both up to date and accurate. However, with over 2500 lives to keep track of it's inevitable that some won't be as current or as complete as we would like. So, please help us - if the information about a particular author is out of date, inaccurate or simply very short, and you know of a more complete source, please let us know . Authors and those connected with authors: If you wish to make changes to your bio, please send your complete biography as you would like it displayed so that we can replace the old with the new.

Free books to read and review (US only) Find books by time period, setting & theme Read-alike suggestions by book and author Book club discussions Free books to read and review (US only) Find books by time period, setting & theme Read-alike suggestions by book and author Book club discussions Barbara Vine | Wicked Cozy Authors Wicked Cozy Authors Mysteries with a New England Accent Search The Wickeds continue to celebrate Sheila Connolly’s book birthday for Razing the Dead . Today, we are going to talk about authors who write multiple series. As readers of this blog know, Sheila writes the Orchard Mysteries and the County Cork Mysteries in addition to the Fundraising Mysteries . Who else wears a few hats? Julie: Well, historically, I need to give a hat tip to Dame Agatha Christie. Most people only think of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot when they think of her. But she also wrote Tommy and Tuppence mysteries, a couple of books that featured Inspector Battle, and a number of stand alones. She also had characters visit each other–Inspector Battle does some cross overs. Jessie: I love all the series by Charlotte MacLeod.

She wrote the Peter Shandy Mysteries , the Sarah Kelling Mysteries and the Grub and Stakers Mysteries . Charlotte wrote a lot of other things besides series though. She also wrote short stories, young adult mysteries and Had She but Known: A Biography of Mary Roberts Rinehart . She even wrote a book entitled Astrology for Skeptics. Barb: I’ve often written here of my love for Ruth Rendell . Under her own name she’s written the twenty-four books in the Inspector Wexford series and twenty-seven stand-alone novels of psychological suspense, plus countless short stories and three works of nonfiction. As Barbara Vine, she’s written fourteen additional novels. While the Wexford series has my undying love and devotion, one of the Barbara Vine’s, Asta’s Book (published here as Anna’s Book), is on my short, short list of desert island books. Edith: I’m not ashamed to say that Sheila is my favorite multi-series author. I guess there are different ways to look at multi-series authors. Roberta Islieb had two series, her golf lover’s mysteries and her psychologist advice column series, before becoming Lucy Burdette and writing the delicious Key West Food Critic series.

But those are sequential, not concurrent like Sheila’s. Catriona McPherson has an ongoing historical series featuring Dandy Gilver, and she’s concurrently writing standalone suspense novels, starting with As She Left It, and continuing with The Day She Died. But they aren’t actually series! Leslie Budewitz has the new Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries coming out to keep her fabulous (and Agatha-winning) Food Lovers’ Village series, so she’ll have two concurrent before long. And of course, Daryl Wood Gerber/Avery Aames has the ongoing Cookbook Nook Mysteries (as Gerber) and the Cheese Shop Mysteries (as Aames). So much reading to do, so little time… Oh – and I write two concurrent series. Ha – kind of forgot about that. My next Lauren Rousseau mystery, Bluffing is Murder, will be out under my Tace Baker hat in November! Sherry: I met Nancy J. Parra at Malice this year when she was on a panel I moderated. For the panel I read Engaged in Murder which is the first in her Perfect Proposals Series. I also just read All Fudged Up the first in her Candy Coated Mystery Series.

I’m looking forward to reading Gluten for Punishment the first in the Baker’s Treats Mysteries which she writes at Nancy Coco. Her protagonists have great voices and I love her settings! Readers: Who is your favorite multi-series author? This slideshow requires JavaScript. Follow Blog via Email Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Join 6,291 other followers Wicked Cozy Authors Jessie Crockett/Jessica Estevao Jessica Estevao writes the Change of Fortune Mysteries. The first in the series, Whispers Beyond the Veil, will release in September 2016. She loves the beach, mysterious happenings and all things good-naturedly paranormal. While she lives for most of the year in New Hampshire with her dark and mysterious husband and exuberant children, she spends summers on the coast of Maine where she keeps an eye out for sea monsters and mermaids. As Jessie Crockett she’s the author of the nationally bestselling Sugar Grove Mysteries and the Daphne du Maurier Award winner, Live Free or Die. Sherry Harris Sherry Harris is the author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale Series.

The first in the series, Tagged for Death, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Sherry is also an independent editor who analyzes manuscripts from periods to plot holes. J. A. Hennrikus / Julianne Holmes Julianne Holmes writes the Clock Shop Mystery series, which debuted in 2015 when Just Killing Time was published by Berkley Prime Crime. Just Killing Time was nominated for a Best First Novel Agatha Award. Clock and Dagger will be published in August 2016. J.A. (Julie) Hennrikus writes short stories that have appeared in the award winning Level Best Books. She serves on the boards of Sisters in Crime and Sisters in Crime New England, and is a member of MWA. Edith Maxwell Agatha-nominated Edith Maxwell writes the Local Foods Mystery series, with Murder Most Fowl as the latest. As Edith she also writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries. Delivering the Truth releases April, 2016. Her story "A Questionable Death" was nominated for a 2016 Agatha Award for Best Short Story.

Edith's alter-ego Maddie Day writes the Country Store Mysteries series (Grilled for Murder) and her other alter-ego, Tace Baker, writes the Lauren Rousseau mysteries (Bluffing is Murder). Edith, a California native, also writes Amazon-bestselling and award-winning short crime fiction. Liz Mugavero Liz Mugavero is the author of the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, published by Kensington Books, Kneading to Die, a 2013 Agatha nominee, A Biscuit, A Casket, The Icing on the Corpse , and Murder Most Finicky . Liz also writes the Cat About Town series as Cate Conte for St. Martin's Press, coming soon. Barbara Ross Barbara Ross is the author of the Maine Clambake Mysteries from Kensington Publishing, Clammed Up, Boiled Over, Musseled Out and Fogged Inn. Visit her website at . Wicked Accomplices This slideshow requires JavaScript. The Wicked Cozys are lucky to be surrounded by many talented friends. Three of them write a monthly post on this blog.

Sheila Connolly Sheila Connolly writes the Orchard Mysteries, the Museum Mysteries, and the County Cork Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime, and the Relatively Dead series with Beyond the Page Publishing, and manages to squeeze few short stories between them all. Kimberly Kurth Gray Kimberly Kurth Gray is the co-publisher and editor of Level Best Books. She is a recipient of the William F. Deck-Malice Domestic grant for unpublished writers. In addition to her monthly post as The Detective's Daughter, she writes for Scenes from a Baltimore Kitchen. Her latest short story can be found in The Boardwalk, a Rehoboth Beach anthology published by Cat and Mouse Press. Susannah Hardy/Sadie Hartwell Susannah Hardy is the author of the Greek to Me Mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime, Feta Attraction, Olive and Let Die, and A Killer Kebab. As Sadie Hartwell, she writes the Tangled Web Mysteries from Kensington Publishing, Yarned and Dangerous and A Knit Before Dying (August, 2017). Visit her websites at and .

Ruth Rendell: 'Withholding information from the reader should be part of any story' | Books | The Guardian Meet the author Ruth Rendell: 'Withholding information from the reader should be part of any story' As Inspector Wexford returns, Ruth Rendell talks about politics, her influences and the secret to keeping the reader intrigued Ruth Rendell: 'Wexford holds my views on most things. I find putting him on the page fairly easy.' Photograph: Felix Clay Share on Messenger Close Ruth Rendell is an English crime writer and author of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Her latest novel is No Man's Nightingale. After starring in 23 books, Inspector Reginald Wexford is still solving crime in your latest, No Man's Nightingale, when he might be enjoying his recent retirement. At 83, you are doing much the same thing. Does Wexford still reflect your perspectives on life? He sort of is me, although not entirely. Wexford holds my views pretty well on most things, so I find putting him on the page fairly easy.

Like me, he sees things changing, like people not writing letters any more. I used to get an awful lot of letters and they have almost all gone. I used to answer nearly all of them. But I do love emails and texts, so I am not like Wexford in all respects. I try to give him a fully-rounded character. It is important to me he is not a violent man. I get very tired of violence in crime fiction. Maybe it is what life is like, but I don't want to do it in my books. Since you identify with Wexford, you seem to have two routes for getting across your sympathies: through the narrative voice and through the detective. You have placed an embattled Asian female vicar at the centre of this book and then you let Wexford defend her position. I probably do use both, although maybe I shouldn't. I call these books "the political Wexfords" because they are about subjects I care about. It started with Simisola really, which was about racist behaviour. Then I tackled the environment, and then domestic violence in Harm Done.

Wexford is a Liberal Democrat though, and I am a Labour party member, in fact a Labour peer, so I am further to the left than him. Having said that, my books are not political really, even though I call them that. I don't choose my villains and heroes for political reasons. I have found that if I stop to write down a plan for the story, it all goes away. So I just write it as it comes and then go over it with great care. There is some discussion about aliases and how to invent them in this book. They are a common feature of detective fiction, and of your own life too. I am interested in names and what they say, it is true. I like to look at the columns of baby names in the newspapers. But I don't run out of new ones for my characters. And it is much easier now to find names for people from distant countries. You can just go on to the internet and get a list of Thai names, or Paraguayan names, or whatever it is. For Barbara Vine, my other writing name, I took my middle name and a family surname.

The murder in an English vicarage that opens this book is an echo of one of Agatha Christie's most famous stories. You also refer to the plotting of classic Victorian novels a couple of times in the story. Are these literary resonances intended? Maybe The Murder at the Vicarage was in the back of my mind, you never know. I did read a lot of Christie a very long time ago. I don't read much crime fiction now. I mention Wilkie Collins in this book because a beautiful young girl's fate is to be decided in a letter. I read a lot of Victorian novels, so I suppose the comparison, especially with their neat endings, is often there. Collins was damaged as a writer by taking all that laudanum, but The Woman in White is a very good novel. What do you think still draws readers to the crime genre in such numbers? Is it the licence to ask questions about other people? The characters in Grasshopper, a Barbara Vine title from 2000, actually look into other people's houses from the rooftops to discover their secrets. Is this the appeal for you in essence? I don't know whether that is what I am doing.

I just want to tell a good story so I always ask myself, are these people real to me? The things I write about are completely removed from my own life, but people want to know the characters better. There are schools of thought that dispense with all that now, but I think if there are strong characters, people want to know more. I have talked before about the withholding of information from the reader in a great book like Jane Austen's Emma and I do think it should be part of any story, if it is told well, whether or not it is detective fiction. The reader has got to be thinking, what does it mean? Why did they do that?

Question: Barbara Vine is another writing name for which author?
Answer: Ruth Rendell