Ruth Rendell

A bypass is planned in Kingsmarkham, but before the protestors make their presence felt, the badly decomposed body of a young woman is discovered....

Concealed by a shroud of dirty brown velvet was what looked like a heap of rags....

With floods threatening his home, Chief Inspector Wexford already has his hands full when he learns that two local teenagers have gone missing ....

Two damaged children. Teddy became a handsome young man, Francine was beautiful - a sight for sore eyes. But it was death that brought them together....

Sarah Hussain was not popular in the community of Kingsmarkham. She was born of mixed parents - a white Irishwoman and an immigrant Indian Hindu....

When he unexpectedly comes into a small fortune, he decides to use his newfound wealth to help out those in need....

Chief Inspector Wexford is concerned about a pedophile who has been recently released back into the community but cannot foresee a series of serious crimes waiting to happen....

All he has to go on is his own intuitive suspicions. Was he becoming cynical and untrusting or was this one of the most ingenious crimes he had ever tackled?....

Wexford had almost made up his mind that he would never again set eyes on Eric Targo. And yet there he was, back in Kingsmarkham, still with that cocky, strutting walk....

With deceptive economy in these nine short stories, Ruth Rendell indicates hidden depths in ordinary events and creates a sense of profound unease....

There were some things about Chief Inspector Wexford's trip to China that he could never have dreamt of....

The massacre at Tancred House seems at first to be the work of a burglar, panicked into killing. But Chief Inspector Wexford believes there are links with the murder of a Kingsmarkham detective....

Four members of the Coverdale family - George, Jacqueline, Melinda and Giles....

Only eighteen black people live in Kingsmarkham. One of them is Wexford's new Doctor, Raymond Akande. When the doctor's daughter, Melanie, goes missing....

Chief Inspector Reg Wexford has retired. He and his wife, Dora, now divide their time between Kingsmarkham and their daughter....

A simple case of a man running off with a woman other than his wife. But when another woman reports that her husband is missing, the case turns unpleasantly complex....

In a gloomy cellar, the figure of a beautiful, pale woman makes no move when the man advances on her from the shadows....

Philip Wardman had more than just the ordinary squeamishness where death was concerned....

There are only two things in life that interest Stanley: solving crossword puzzles, and getting his hands on his mother-in-law’s money....

A lump of concrete dropped deliberately from a little stone bridge kills the wrong person. The young woman in the car behind is spared. But only for a while....