R.i.p Ruth Rendell

[Jackdaw33]

...She raised the art of crime fiction to a whole new height.

[237SJ]

I particularly like her novels when she wrote as Barbara Vine

[tonyav]

RIP Ruth Rendell.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/ruth-rendell-crime-writer-dies-aged-85/ar-BBj4ghv

[jno]

indeed, a very fine writer. I've not read any Barbara Vine, though.

[Jackdaw33]

Her Barbara Vine novels are very dark, deeply psychological and not always that east to read. I found them a bit slow at times.

[Buenchico]

She obviously preferred writing fiction to fact. From the BBC website:

"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."

;-)

[237SJ]

I much preferred the Barbara Vine ones. Much more intriguing

[Jackdaw33]

Chico's remark reminds me of Marion Crawford, nanny to the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. In later years she wrote a column for a women's magazine. In one article she commented on a royal function, describing in detail how the Queen looked. Unfortunately the Queen wasn't there; she had a cold.

[corylus]

I have most of her books and re-read them frequently, not just for the storylines and plots but also for the 'aside' comments about life in general that she used to slip in to her stories. A fine author, a fine brain, one more book, her last, may be published.