Ruth Rendell
“Ruth is a wonderful writer. She creates such vivid characters that they leap off the page. You sense a huge vitality and energy. She’s so marvellous on mood, setting and atmosphere, which is always important” — Christopher Ravenscroft
Ruth Rendell is one of Britain’s most prolific and interesting contemporary writers. Her first novel, From Doon with Death (1964), introduced Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford - ‘Fifty-two years old, the very prototype of an actor playing a top brass policeman’. In July 1997 she was conferred a life peerage and appointed to the House of Lords as Baroness Rendell of Babergh.
“I don’t have the joyous relationship with the Chief Inspector that people assume. I am often asked if I am in love with him, as lady writers of detective fiction are supposed to love their heroes. I always say that he should be in love with me - look what I’ve done for him!
Women love him. He seems to exude a particular sexual attraction which has something to do with an air of security and reliability and absolute safety. I know because women are always writing to me about it. They want me to kill off Dora so that they can marry Reg. They think that with such a man they would be safe for ever. They probably wouldn’t, of course. But that’s how they feel about him.
Freud wanted to know what it is that women want… Well, one thing women want is someone to make them laugh. Wexford is quite witty, I think. He is also a big, solid type, very cool and calm. He also likes women very much and always has time for them. What more could you want in a man?
Wexford was always going to be a very big man … but I described him as an ugly man with irregular features and George is certainly not that. George is very handsome. But then, after a time, I began to see him as Reg. And now I could not imagine Reg Wexford any other way. Christopher was always Mike Burden. As soon as I saw him he was my Burden made-flesh. Of all the TV adaptations, the Wexfords are my favourites. And I’d say that owes even more to those two wonderful actors than to the adaptors.“
Recent Ruth Rendell | Barbara Vine novels
Portobello: ‘The Portobello area of West London has a rich personality – vibrant, brilliant in colour, noisy, with graffiti that approach art, bizarre and splendid. An indefinable edge to it adds a spice of danger. There is nothing safe about Portobello…’ Published by Hutchinson on 20 November 2008
The Birthday Present: ‘It’s late spring of 1990 and a love affair is flourishing between Ivor Tesham, a rising star in Margaret Thatcher’s government, and Hebe Furnal, a stunning North London housewife stuck in a dull marriage. Set amidst an age of IRA bombings, the first Gulf War, and sleazy politics, The Birthday Present is the gripping story of a fall from grace, and of a man who carries within him all the hypocrisy, greed and self-obsession of a troubled era…’ Published by Viking on 28 August 2008
Collected Stories 2: ‘The New Girl Friend was published in 1985, and the title story earned Rendell her second Edgar award. Blood Lines, first published in 1995, includes the long title story and a novella, The Strawberry Tree, as well as nine short stories. Piranha to Scurfy followed in 2000….’ Published by Hutchinson on 03 January 2008
The Chimney Sweeper’s Boy: ‘Penguin Celebrations: Unique voices, enthralling stories and quite simply the best books of their kind to be published in recent years….’ Published by Penguin on 06 September 2007
Not in the Flesh: ‘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 shroud. The post mortem can not reveal the precise cause of death. The only clue is a crack in one of the dead man’s ribs…’ Published by Hutchinson on 02 August 2007
Collected Stories: ‘A new paperback featuring three classic Rendell stories: ‘Means of Evil’, ‘The Fallen Curtain’ and ‘The Fever Tree’…’ Published by Hutchinson on 01 February 2007
Die Seelenforscherin: A new Ruth Rendell documentary from German broadcaster ZDF.
‘Six weeks, six authors, 1 winner of the ITV3 Writer’s Award for Classic TV Drama’: 18 August - 6 October, 2008.
Portobello: “I have always loved the Portobello market and it seemed a good idea to set a novel in and around it… a place of crime, of hopes and fears, life and death.”
- A most serious and extraordinary problem: Ruth Rendell on Conan Doyle.
- Drama Trails: Ruth Rendell takes George Baker on a guided tour of the House of Lords.
- Pieces of me: Ruth Rendell on her most meaningful possessions.
- BBC Radio 2 interview: ‘Did you feel that Jessica Fletcher on Murder She Wrote was you?’
- Peerless Crimes: Her first book, From Doon With Death, for which she was paid £75, was published in 1964. “I bought my husband a watch (with the money),” she says. “I bought bed linen and a lamp…”
- Demons In Her View: The Ruth Rendell Information Site.