Author Guide · Crime Fiction
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Ruth Rendell’s first newspaper job, at the Chigwell Times, ended when she wrote up a sports club dinner she had not attended and missed the fact that the after-dinner speaker had died in the middle of his speech. She resigned, and turned to fiction. Her first novel, From Doon with Death (1964), introduced Chief Inspector Reg Wexford of Kingsmarkham, who appeared in 24 novels up to 2013. Alongside him she wrote 28 standalone novels of psychological suspense, and from 1986 a further 14 as Barbara Vine. By her death in 2015 she had won four Crime Writers’ Association Gold Daggers and sat in the House of Lords as Baroness Rendell of Babergh. This guide covers her 11 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 11 key books · 1964–2009 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Ruth Rendell wrote 66 novels: 24 Inspector Wexford mysteries, 28 standalones and 14 as Barbara Vine. Her best-known books are A Judgement in Stone (1977), A Demon in My View (1976), Live Flesh (1986), A Dark-Adapted Eye (1986) and A Fatal Inversion (1987). Start with A Judgement in Stone; below is the full Wexford reading order and how the three strands of her work differ.
Where to Start with Ruth Rendell
If you want her at her most chilling
→ A Judgement in Stone (1977) — the killer and the motive are given in the first sentence.
If you want Inspector Wexford
→ From Doon with Death (1964) — the 1964 novel where the series begins.
If you want the Barbara Vine novels
→ A Fatal Inversion (1987) — one summer in 1976 and the bodies found ten years later.
If you want a crime novel from inside a killer’s head
→ A Demon in My View (1976) — her first Gold Dagger.
11 Ruth Rendell Books, in Order
From Doon with Death
Her first novel, published by John Long in 1964, and the first case for Chief Inspector Wexford and his deputy Mike Burden in the Sussex market town of Kingsmarkham. A housewife is found murdered, and among her possessions are books inscribed to her by a lover who signs only as “Doon”. It was considered daring on publication and was filmed in 1988.
A Demon in My View
Arthur, a clerk and part-time rent collector in Kenbourne Vale, a run-down suburb of north-west London, secretly acts out his violent urges on a shop mannequin in the cellar of his lodging house. A psychology student with the same surname moves in, and his research into psychopaths brings him close to Arthur’s secret. It was her first Gold Dagger, and was filmed in 1991 with Anthony Perkins.
A Judgement in Stone
The first sentence gives away the killer and the motive: Eunice Parchman, housekeeper to the cultured Coverdale family, shoots George, Jacqueline, Melinda and Giles Coverdale on Valentine’s Day, while they are watching Don Giovanni on television, because she cannot read or write and fears being found out. It was shortlisted for the Gold Dagger. Claude Chabrol moved the story to Brittany for his film La Cérémonie (1995).
The Tree of Hands
Benet is visited by her mother Mopsa, who is mentally ill and once tried to stab her on a train. The death of a child sets off a chain of lies, a kidnapping and a murder that draws in three women. The title is a painting on a hospital ward wall. It was also shortlisted for the Edgar Award, and Claude Miller filmed it as Betty Fisher et autres histoires (2001).
Live Flesh
Victor Jenner, who shot and crippled a police officer after an attempted rape, comes out of prison ten years later and insists the shooting was an accident. The novel follows him back into the world from his own point of view. Pedro Almodóvar’s film Live Flesh (1997) changed both characters and plot.
A Dark-Adapted Eye
The first Barbara Vine novel. Faith Severn looks back on her aunt Vera Hillyard, a prim, snobbish woman devoted to her beautiful younger sister Eden. During the Second World War Vera has a second son, Jamie; when Eden, married into money and childless, demands to raise him, the fight between the sisters ends in a death. It was also shortlisted for the Gold Dagger. The BBC adapted it in 1994 with Helena Bonham Carter as Faith.
A Fatal Inversion
In the hot summer of 1976 Adam, who has unexpectedly inherited Wyvis Hall in Suffolk, spends the months there with Rufus, Shiva, Vivien and Zosie, selling off the family heirlooms. Ten years later the new owner, burying a dog in the animal cemetery, finds the skeletons of a woman and a baby. In 2005 it was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger of Daggers. The BBC adapted it in 1992 with Jeremy Northam and Douglas Hodge.
King Solomon’s Carpet
Jarvis Stringer lives in a crumbling former schoolhouse overlooking a tube line in London and is writing a history of the Underground. His house and his obsession draw in a group of misfits: Alice, who has left her husband and baby; Tom, the busker who rescues her; Jasper, a truant who rides the tube for thrills; and Axel, whose secret affects them all. BBC Radio 4 dramatised it in 1996.
Simisola
Dr Raymond Akande, Wexford’s new GP, is one of the few Black residents of Kingsmarkham. When his daughter goes missing and the body of a young Black woman is found, Wexford has to face his own assumptions. The novel takes in racism, welfare dependency and new forms of slavery. It was filmed for television in 1996 with George Baker.
A Sight for Sore Eyes
Two lives converge: Teddy Brex, a handsome young man raised in a loveless, isolated home and obsessed with beauty, and Francine Hill, traumatised as a child by her mother’s murder and smothered by her stepmother’s protectiveness. Gilles Bourdos filmed it as Inquiétudes (2003), and Teddy’s story resurfaces in the Wexford novel The Vault (2011).
The Monster in the Box
Wexford finally tells Mike Burden about Eric Targo, a man with a birthmark he hides under a scarf, whom Wexford has suspected of murder since he was a young detective constable. The novel moves between that first case, Targo’s return to Kingsmarkham in the 1970s and the present day. It was widely reported as Wexford’s last case; Rendell said it was his last as a serving policeman.
In What Order to Read Ruth Rendell
Rendell wrote three kinds of book, and they can be read separately. The Wexford novels are police procedurals set in Kingsmarkham, each a complete case, but Wexford, his wife Dora, their daughters and Mike Burden age across five decades, so publication order pays off. The full Wexford order is From Doon with Death, A New Lease of Death, Wolf to the Slaughter, The Best Man to Die, A Guilty Thing Surprised, No More Dying Then, Murder Being Once Done, Some Lie and Some Die, Shake Hands Forever, A Sleeping Life, Put On by Cunning, The Speaker of Mandarin, An Unkindness of Ravens, The Veiled One, Kissing the Gunner’s Daughter, Simisola, Road Rage, Harm Done, The Babes in the Wood, End in Tears, Not in the Flesh, The Monster in the Box, The Vault and No Man’s Nightingale.
The standalones and the Barbara Vine novels have no order at all. The standalones tend to stay close to an obsessive, often murderous mind in the present; the Vine novels are slower and look back across decades at a family or a small group and the crime they buried.
A reading path
1. A Judgement in Stone (1977)
2. From Doon with Death (1964)
3. A Dark-Adapted Eye (1986)
4. A Fatal Inversion (1987)
5. Simisola (1994)
Everything Else Ruth Rendell Published
Beyond the 11 key books: 63 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
The other Inspector Wexford novels
21
21 books · 1967–2013
- 1967A New Lease of DeathWexford #2; US title Sins of the Fathers
- 1967Wolf to the SlaughterWexford #3
- 1969The Best Man to DieWexford #4
- 1970A Guilty Thing SurprisedWexford #5; on the Lost Man Booker longlist in 2010
- 1971No More Dying ThenWexford #6
- 1972Murder Being Once DoneWexford #7
- 1973Some Lie and Some DieWexford #8
- 1975Shake Hands ForeverWexford #9
- 1978A Sleeping LifeWexford #10; Edgar Award finalist
- 1981Put On by CunningWexford #11; US title Death Notes
- 1983The Speaker of MandarinWexford #12; Gold Dagger shortlist
- 1985An Unkindness of RavensWexford #13; Edgar Award finalist
- 1988The Veiled OneWexford #14
- 1992Kissing the Gunner’s DaughterWexford #15
- 1997Road RageWexford #17
- 1999Harm DoneWexford #18
- 2002The Babes in the WoodWexford #19
- 2005End in TearsWexford #20
- 2007Not in the FleshWexford #21
- 2011The VaultWexford #23, retired, with Teddy Brex from A Sight for Sore Eyes
- 2013No Man’s NightingaleWexford #24, the last
The other standalone novels
23
23 books · 1965–2015
- 1965To Fear a Painted Devilher second novel
- 1966Vanity Dies Hardstandalone
- 1968The Secret House of Deathstandalone
- 1971One Across, Two Downstandalone
- 1974The Face of Trespassstandalone
- 1979Make Death Love MeMartin Beck Award; Edgar Award finalist
- 1980The Lake of DarknessArts Council National Book Award for genre fiction
- 1982Master of the Moorstandalone
- 1984The Killing Dollstandalone
- 1987Talking to Strange Menstandalone
- 1989The Bridesmaidfilmed by Claude Chabrol as La Demoiselle d’honneur (2004)
- 1990Going WrongGold Dagger shortlist
- 1993The Crocodile Birdstandalone
- 1996The Keys to the Streetstandalone
- 2001Adam and Eve and Pinch Mestandalone
- 2003The Rottweilerstandalone
- 2004Thirteen Steps Downstandalone
- 2006The Water’s Lovelystandalone
- 2008Portobellostandalone
- 2010Tigerlily’s Orchidsfilmed as Valentin Valentin (2015)
- 2012The Saint Zita Societystandalone
- 2014The Girl Next Doorstandalone
- 2015Dark Cornersher last novel
The other Barbara Vine novels
11
11 books · 1988–2012
- 1988The House of StairsBarbara Vine #3; Angel Award
- 1990GallowglassBarbara Vine #4
- 1993Asta’s BookBarbara Vine #6; US title Anna’s Book
- 1994No Night Is Too LongBarbara Vine #7
- 1995The Brimstone WeddingBarbara Vine #8
- 1998The Chimney Sweeper’s BoyBarbara Vine #9
- 2000GrasshopperBarbara Vine #10
- 2002The Blood DoctorBarbara Vine #11
- 2005The MinotaurBarbara Vine #12
- 2008The Birthday PresentBarbara Vine #13
- 2012The Child’s ChildBarbara Vine #14, the last
Short story collections
8
8 books · 1976–2017
- 1976The Fallen Curtaintitle story won the Edgar Award
- 1979Means of Evil and Other StoriesWexford stories
- 1982The Fever Treestories
- 1985The New Girlfriendtitle story won the Edgar Award; filmed by François Ozon
- 1991The Copper Peacockstories
- 1995Blood Linesstories
- 2000Piranha to Scurfystories
- 2017A Spot of Follystories, published after her death
The years · 1930–2015
Quick facts about Ruth Rendell
- Known for
- She is known for moving British crime fiction from the puzzle of who did it to the question of why, through her Inspector Wexford mysteries, her psychological standalones and the novels she wrote as Barbara Vine.
- 1930
- Born in South Woodford, Essex
- 1964
- From Doon with Death, the first Wexford
- 1987
- A Fatal Inversion, her second Barbara Vine
- 1997
- Life peer: Baroness Rendell of Babergh
- 2015
- Dies in London, aged 85
- Born
- 17 February 1930, South Woodford, Essex, as Ruth Barbara Grasemann; both parents were teachers
- Died
- 2 May 2015, London, aged 85, after a stroke in January
- Pen name
- Barbara Vine, from her middle name and her great-grandmother’s maiden name
- Honours
- CBE (1996); life peer as Baroness Rendell of Babergh (1997), sitting for Labour
- Awards
- Four CWA Gold Daggers, a Silver Dagger, the Cartier Diamond Dagger (1991), three Edgar Awards and MWA Grand Master (1997)
- Series
- 24 Inspector Wexford novels, 1964–2013
The red mark is 1987: A Fatal Inversion, the Barbara Vine novel that won her third Gold Dagger.
How Ruth Rendell Writes: Why, Not Who
Rendell often gives away the answer a detective story would hold back. A Judgement in Stone names the killer, the victims and the motive in its first sentence, and the rest of the book shows how illiteracy, shame and a chance friendship lead to the shooting. In A Demon in My View and Live Flesh the reader spends most of the novel inside the mind of the man the police are looking for.
The Wexford books keep the police procedural form but use Kingsmarkham to follow how Britain changed between 1964 and 2013. In Simisola Wexford has to confront his own prejudices in a case that takes in race and new forms of slavery. A Demon in My View already takes in sexism and racism. Rendell said she based Wexford on herself.
As Barbara Vine she slowed down further. The Vine novels are told years after the event, often by a narrator piecing together a family story: the wartime sisters of A Dark-Adapted Eye, the summer of 1976 in A Fatal Inversion. The crime is the end point, and the question is what in a family or a small group made it happen. For more crime writers in the same tradition, see the guides to P. D. James and Patricia Highsmith below.
Frequently asked questions about Ruth Rendell’s books
How many books has Ruth Rendell written?
Sixty-six novels: 24 Inspector Wexford mysteries, 28 standalone novels under her own name and 14 as Barbara Vine. She also published short story collections and a few non-fiction books. This page covers 11 key books; the rest are listed under “Everything Else”.
What are Ruth Rendell’s books in order?
The 11 key books are From Doon with Death (1964), A Demon in My View (1976), A Judgement in Stone (1977), The Tree of Hands (1984), Live Flesh (1986), A Dark-Adapted Eye (1986), A Fatal Inversion (1987), King Solomon’s Carpet (1991), Simisola (1994), A Sight for Sore Eyes (1998) and The Monster in the Box (2009).
What is the Inspector Wexford series in order?
From Doon with Death (1964), A New Lease of Death (1967), Wolf to the Slaughter (1967), The Best Man to Die (1969), A Guilty Thing Surprised (1970), No More Dying Then (1971), Murder Being Once Done (1972), Some Lie and Some Die (1973), Shake Hands Forever (1975), A Sleeping Life (1978), Put On by Cunning (1981), The Speaker of Mandarin (1983), An Unkindness of Ravens (1985), The Veiled One (1988), Kissing the Gunner’s Daughter (1992), Simisola (1994), Road Rage (1997), Harm Done (1999), The Babes in the Wood (2002), End in Tears (2005), Not in the Flesh (2007), The Monster in the Box (2009), The Vault (2011) and No Man’s Nightingale (2013). The stories in Means of Evil (1979) also feature Wexford.
Do you need to read the Wexford books in order?
No. Each novel is a complete case. Reading in order shows Wexford, his family and Mike Burden ageing over almost 50 years, and some late books look back: The Monster in the Box returns to his first years as a detective, and in The Vault and No Man’s Nightingale he is retired and helps the police unofficially.
Where should I start with Ruth Rendell?
A Judgement in Stone (1977). It is short, and its first sentence tells you who killed the Coverdale family and why. If you want the detective series, start at the beginning with From Doon with Death; for Barbara Vine, start with A Fatal Inversion.
What is Ruth Rendell’s most famous book?
A Judgement in Stone (1977), famous for its opening sentence and filmed by Claude Chabrol as La Cérémonie. As Barbara Vine, A Dark-Adapted Eye and A Fatal Inversion are the best known, and Inspector Wexford is her best-known character.
Who is Barbara Vine?
Ruth Rendell herself. She took the name from her own middle name, Barbara, and her great-grandmother’s maiden name, and published 14 novels under it, from A Dark-Adapted Eye (1986) to The Child’s Child (2012).
Which Ruth Rendell books have been adapted?
George Baker played Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries on ITV from 1987 to 2000, with Christopher Ravenscroft as Burden. The BBC made The Barbara Vine Mysteries, including A Fatal Inversion (1992) and A Dark-Adapted Eye (1994). Films include Chabrol’s La Cérémonie (1995) and La Demoiselle d’honneur (2004), Almodóvar’s Live Flesh (1997) and François Ozon’s The New Girlfriend.
What prizes did Ruth Rendell win?
Four Crime Writers’ Association Gold Daggers, for A Demon in My View, Live Flesh, A Fatal Inversion and King Solomon’s Carpet; a Silver Dagger for The Tree of Hands; the Cartier Diamond Dagger in 1991; three Edgar Awards, for A Dark-Adapted Eye and the stories “The Fallen Curtain” and “The New Girlfriend”; and the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master award in 1997.
Is Ruth Rendell still alive?
No. She died in London on 2 May 2015, aged 85, after a stroke in January that year. She was born on 17 February 1930 in South Woodford, Essex.
Footnotes
- Ruth Rendell — Wikipedia
- Inspector Wexford novels — ruthrendell.info
- Novelist Ruth Rendell, author of Wexford books, dies at 85 — NPR, 2015
- The Ruth Rendell Mysteries — Wikipedia
- A Dark-Adapted Eye — Wikipedia
- A Fatal Inversion — ruthrendell.info
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write.”
— Ruth Rendell, A Judgement in Stone (1977), the first line
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