Chief Inspector Wexford had every reason to remember the Painter case - it was the first murder he’d ever handled on his own. There had been no mystery - Painter had done it and been hanged.

Once when Benet was about fourteen they had been on a train together, alone in the carriage, and Mopsa had tried to stab her with a carving knife. It was some time now since Benet had seen her mad...

All his life, for almost as far back as he could remember, Victor had had a phobia. In prison, inevitably, he reflected on the grotesque way it had begun, about the panics and violent anger. He...

Philip Wardman had more than just the ordinary squeamishness where death was concerned. Yet he could hardly avoid the suspicious disappearance of his sister's friend Rebecca Neave, especially when...

It is 1979 and hapless accountant Arthur and his wife Gwen have made a new friend. Flashy novelist Reeve is everything they're not - carefree, charismatic and seemingly irresistible. At first, his...

With deceptive economy in these nine short stories, Ruth Rendell indicates hidden depths in ordinary events and creates a sense of profound unease. The stories are: 'A Pair of Yellow Lilies',...

The latest victim in a series of apparently motiveless murders is found near Inez Ferry’s antique shop in Marylebone. Someone saw a shadowy figure running away, but the only other clues are that...

It was his third visit to the gloomy house on Orchard Drive. Each time, he parked in the same place. Each time, he carried a briefcase. And each time, Louise North greeted him at the door......

Who would have believed that Alice Whittaker’s life could change? She was thirty-seven, rich but dowdy, with no career. Her life was a lonely failure, though she had got by with the one thing...

Mary Jago had donated her own bone marrow to save the life of someone she didn’t know. And this generous act led directly to the bitter break-up of her affair with Alistair. For him, it was as...

There are only two things in life that interest Stanley - solving crossword puzzles, and getting his hands on his mother-in-law’s money. For twenty years, the puzzles have been his only...

Messages were coming in thick and fast - messages that were never intended for John Creevey. He thought he had intercepted a major crime ring. He would never know that he was dealing with a group...

Concealed by a shroud of dirty brown velvet was what looked like a heap of rags. In the desolate subterranean car park of the Barringdean Shopping Centre, Reg Wexford had been too preoccupied to...

Love and death are the principal players in these two BBC Radio full-cast dramatisations of chilling Ruth Rendell stories. In 'The Bridesmaid', when Philip embarks on an affair with Senta, his...

Ravens are not particularly predatory birds, but neither are they soft and submissive. The collective noun for them is an ‘unkindness’...The raven is a symbol used by a feminist group whose...