Ruth Rendell - Wikipedia Ruth Rendell From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search British writer The Right Honourable The Baroness Rendell of Babergh CBE Rendell in August 2007 Born Ruth Barbara Grasemann (1930-02-17)17 February 1930 South Woodford, Essex, England Died 2 May 2015(2015-05-02) (aged 85) London, England Pen name Barbara Vine Occupation Novelist Genre Psychological thriller murder mystery Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE (née Grasemann; 17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015) was an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries.[1] Rendell is best known for creating Chief Inspector Wexford.[2] A second string of works was a series of unrelated crime novels that explored the psychological background of criminals and their victims. This theme was developed further in a third series of novels, published under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Contents 1 Life 2 Awards 3 Death 4 Developing the thriller genre 5 Adaptations of her works 6 Awards and honours 7 Bibliography 7.1 Inspector Wexford series 7.2 Standalone novels 7.3 Novellas 7.4 Written as Barbara Vine 7.5 Short story collections 7.6 Uncollected short stories 7.7 Uncollected round-robin short stories to which Rendell was a contributor 7.8 Non-fiction 7.9 Children's Books 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links Life[edit] Rendell was born Ruth Barbara Grasemann in 1930, in South Woodford, Essex (now Greater London).[3] Her parents were teachers. Her mother, Ebba Kruse, was born in Sweden to Danish parents and brought up in Denmark; her father, Arthur Grasemann, was English. As a result of spending Christmas and other holidays in Scandinavia, Rendell learned Swedish and Danish.[4] Rendell was educated at the County High School for Girls in Loughton, Essex,[3] the town to which the family moved during her childhood. After high school she became a feature writer for her local Essex paper, the Chigwell Times. However, she was forced to resign after filing a story about a local sports club dinner she hadn't attended and failing to report that the after-dinner speaker had died midway through the speech.[5] Rendell met her husband Don Rendell when she was working as a newswriter.[3] They married when she was 20, and in 1953 had a son, Simon,[6] now a psychiatric social worker who lives in the U.S. state of Colorado. The couple divorced in 1975 but remarried two years later.[7] Don Rendell died in 1999 from prostate cancer.[6] She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1996 Birthday Honours[8] and a life peer as Baroness Rendell of Babergh, of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk, on 24 October 1997.[9] She sat in the House of Lords for the Labour Party. In 1998 Rendell was named in a list of the party's biggest private financial donors.[10] She introduced into the Lords the bill that would later become the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. In August 2014, Rendell was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.[11] Awards[edit] Baroness Rendell's awards include the Silver, Gold, and Cartier Diamond Daggers from the Crime Writers' Association, three Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America, The Arts Council National Book Awards, and The Sunday Times Literary Award.[2] A number of her works (see the section below) have been adapted for film or television.[12][13] She was also a patron of the charity Kids for Kids[14] which helps children in rural areas of Darfur. There is a blue plaque on one of her homes, 45 Millsmead Way, in Loughton. This was unveiled by her son Simon on 24 February 2016.[15] Death[edit] Rendell had a stroke on 7 January 2015[16] and died on 2 May 2015.[17] Developing the thriller genre[edit] Rendell wrote two unpublished novels before the 1964 publication of From Doon with Death, which was purchased for £75 by John Long; it was the first mystery to feature Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford. Rendell said that the character of Wexford was based on herself.[18] The Monster in the Box, released in October 2009, was widely suggested to be Wexford's last case.[19] This was incorrect; however, it was the final novel featuring Wexford as an employed policeman: in the novel that followed, The Vault, he had retired.[20] In addition to these police procedurals starring Wexford, Rendell wrote psychological crime novels exploring such themes as romantic obsession, misperceived communication, the impact of chance and coincidence, and the humanity of the criminals involved. Among such books are A Judgement in Stone, The Face of Trespass, Live Flesh, Talking to Strange Men, The Killing Doll, Going Wrong and Adam and Eve and Pinch Me. For the last novel published in her lifetime, The Girl Next Door, she returned to the Loughton of her childhood, with an implied comparison of the moral climate of wartime England and 2014. Rendell created a third strand of writing with the publication in 1986 of A Dark-Adapted Eye under her pseudonym Barbara Vine (the name was derived from her own middle name and her great grandmother's maiden name).[4] King Solomon's Carpet, A Fatal Inversion and Asta's Book (alternative U.S. title, Anna's Book), among others, inhabited the same territory as her psychological crime novels while further developing themes of human misunderstandings and the unintended consequences of family secrets and hidden crimes. The author was noted for her elegant prose and sharp insights into the human mind, as well as her cogent plots and characters. Rendell injected the social changes of the last 40 years into her work, bringing awareness to such issues as domestic violence.[21] Adaptations of her works[edit] The Inspector Wexford series was successfully televised, starring George Baker as Inspector Wexford and Christopher Ravenscroft as Detective Mike Burden, under the title The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, with 48 episodes from 1987 to 2000. Rendell praised Baker's performance, stating "It was a marvellous achievement as an actor to make him more and better than the author intended."[18] Many of her other works have been adapted for film and television. She said that Chabrol's 1995 version of A Judgement in Stone, La Cérémonie with Sandrine Bonnaire, was one of the few film adaptations of her work that she was happy with. The novel was also filmed in 1986 with Rita Tushingham.[22] Chabrol made La Demoiselle d'honneur in 2004, based on The Bridesmaid. Other adaptations are Diary of the Dead (1976), from the book One Across, Two Down; the 1997 Pedro Almodóvar film Live Flesh;[23] The Tree of Hands, directed by Giles Foster for Granada with Lauren Bacall (U.S. title: "Innocent Victim"); and another version of The Tree of Hands, Betty Fisher et autres histoires (2001, a.k.a. Alias Betty), with screenplay and direction by Claude Miller. Francois Ozon's 2015 film The New Girlfriend was based on Rendell's short story of the same name.[24] Two episodes of Tales of the Unexpected were based on Rendell's short stories. Awards and honours[edit] 1975 – Mystery Writers of America Best Short Story Edgar: The Fallen Curtain 1976 – Gold Dagger for Fiction: A Demon in My View 1979 – Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award (shortlist): A Sleeping Life 1980 – Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award (shortlist): Make Death Love Me 1980 – Martin Beck Award: Make Death Love Me 1981 – Arts Council National Book Award for Genre Fiction: The Lake of Darkness 1984 – Silver Dagger for Fiction: The Tree of Hands 1984 – Mystery Writers of America Best Short Story Edgar: The New Girlfriend 1986 – Gold Dagger for Fiction: Live Flesh 1986 – Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award (shortlist): The Tree of Hands 1986 – Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award (shortlist): An Unkindness of Ravens 1987 – Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award: A Dark-Adapted Eye 1987 – Gold Dagger for Fiction: A Fatal Inversion 1988 – Angel Award for Fiction: The House of Stairs 1990 – Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence 1991 – Gold Dagger for Fiction: King Solomon's Carpet 1991 – Cartier Diamond Dagger for a Lifetime's Achievement in the Field 1996 – Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 1997 – Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award 1997 - Life Peer as Baroness Rendell of Babergh 2004 – Mystery Ink Gumshoe Award for Lifetime Achievement 2005 – CWA Dagger of Daggers (best crime novel to have won the Gold Dagger award (shortlist)): A Fatal Inversion 2007 – Gumshoe Award for Best European Crime Novel (shortlist): The Minotaur 2007 – Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award (longlist): End in Tears 2010 – Lost Man Booker Prize (longlist):[25] A Guilty Thing Surprised Coat of arms of Ruth Rendell Escutcheon Gules three interlaced chevronels argent each ensigned by a brimstone butterfly displayed proper. Supporters On either side a bear statant erect proper gorged with a plain collar gobony gules and or fimbriated gules. Motto Vixi Scripsi [26] Orders Commander of the Order of the British Empire Bibliography[edit] Inspector Wexford series[edit] From Doon with Death (1964) A New Lease of Death (1967) (American title: The Sins of the Fathers) 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 (1979) Put on by Cunning (1981) (American title: Death Notes) The Speaker of Mandarin (1983) An Unkindness of Ravens (1985) The Veiled One (1988) Kissing the Gunner's Daughter (1991) 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) No Man's Nightingale (2013) Standalone novels[edit] To Fear a Painted Devil (1965) Vanity Dies Hard (1965) The Secret House of Death (1968) One Across, Two Down (1971) The Face of Trespass (1974) A Demon in My View (1976) A Judgement in Stone (1977) Make Death Love Me (1979) The Lake of Darkness (1980) Master of the Moor (1982) The Killing Doll (1984) The Tree of Hands (1984) Live Flesh (1986) Talking to Strange Men (1987) The Bridesmaid (1989) Going Wrong (1990) The Crocodile Bird (1993) The Keys to the Street (1996) A Sight for Sore Eyes (1998) Adam and Eve and Pinch Me (2001) The Rottweiler (2003) Thirteen Steps Down (2004) The Water's Lovely (2006) Portobello (2008) Tigerlily's Orchids (2010) The Saint Zita Society (2012) The Girl Next Door (2014) Dark Corners (2015) Novellas[edit] Thornapple (1982).[27] Collected in The Fever Tree Heartstones (1987). Uncollected The Thief (2006). Collected in A Spot of Folly Written as Barbara Vine[edit] A Dark-Adapted Eye (1986) A Fatal Inversion (1987) The House of Stairs (1988) Gallowglass (1990) King Solomon's Carpet (1991) Asta's Book (1993) (American title: Anna's Book) No Night Is Too Long (1994) The Brimstone Wedding (1995) The Chimney-sweeper's Boy (1998) Grasshopper (2000) The Blood Doctor (2002) The Minotaur (2005) The Birthday Present (2008) The Child's Child (2012) Short story collections[edit] The Fallen Curtain (1976) Means of Evil and Other Stories (1979) (five Inspector Wexford stories) The Fever Tree (1982) The New Girlfriend (1985) The Copper Peacock (1991) Blood Lines (1995) Piranha to Scurfy (2000) Collected Short Stories, Volume 1 (2006) Collected Short Stories, Volume 2 (2008) A Spot of Folly (2017) Uncollected short stories[edit] "The Martyr", included in Midsummer Nights (Ed Jeanette Winterson), Quercus, 2009 "Paradise", in The Strand Magazine #11, 2003 Uncollected round-robin short stories to which Rendell was a contributor[edit] "Death in the Square", co-authored with Peter Levi, Roald Dahl and Ted Willis, Daily Telegraph, 1988 "Web of Intrigue", co-written with members of the public. Daily Telegraph, 1997 Non-fiction[edit] Ruth Rendell's Suffolk (1989) Undermining the Central Line: giving government back to the people (with Colin Ward, 1989) a political tract The Reason Why: An Anthology of the Murderous Mind (1995) Children's Books[edit] Archie & Archie (2013) References[edit] ^ Alison Flood (1 March 2013). "Ruth Rendell: a life in writing". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 March 2013. ^ a b The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Sixth edition. Ed. by Margaret Drabble. Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 847. ISBN 0-19-866244-0. ^ a b c "Ruth Rendell, crime writer - obituary". 2 May 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk. ^ a b LibBrooks. "The Profile: Ruth Rendell". the Guardian. ^ "Author Ruth Rendell dies aged 85". BBC. ^ a b "Open and shut case: Is Ruth Rendell finally ready to open up about her puzzling personal life?". The Independent. ^ Brooks, Libby (3 August 2002). "Ruth Rendell Dark Lady of Whodunnits". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 28 October 2011. ^ "No. 54427". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 1996. p. 9. ^ "No. 54933". The London Gazette. 29 October 1997. p. 12149. ^ "'Luvvies' for Labour". BBC News. 30 August 1998. ^ "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories". The Guardian. London. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014. ^ Ruth Rendell (1930–2015). IMDb ^ The Hutchinson Encyclopedia of Literature. Helicon Publishing, 2006. ^ "How We Are Run". kidsforkids.org.uk. 6 May 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2018. ^ "Blue plaque unveiled for renowned and much-loved author Ruth Rendell". East London and West Essex Guardian Series. Retrieved 23 March 2018. ^ "Ruth Rendell in critical condition after stroke". BBC News. 7 January 2015. ^ "Author Ruth Rendell dies aged 85". BBC News. Retrieved 2 May 2015. ^ a b "Wexford is me, Ruth Rendell confesses". BBC News. ^ Walker, Tim (4 May 2009). "Ruth Rendell closes the book on Wexford but new drama beckons". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 17 March 2010. ^ Alison Flood. "Ruth Rendell: a life in writing | Books". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 August 2014. ^ Vanessa Thorpe. "Ruth Rendell: 'Withholding information from the reader should be part of any story'". the Guardian. ^ anxietyresister (24 April 1987). "A Judgment in Stone (1986)". IMDb. ^ "Ruth Rendell returns to ITV after 12 years with a dark thriller". Telegraph.co.uk. 6 August 2012. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/21/the-new-girlfriend-review-francois-ozon-ruth-rendell ^ "Novels up for 'lost' Booker Prize". BBC News. 1 February 2010. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2000. ^ Published in Academy Mystery Novellas, Volume 5: Women Write Murder, Martin H. Greenberg and Edward D. Hoch, editors. 1987 Further reading[edit] A critical essay on Rendell's crime novels appears in S. T. Joshi's book Varieties of Crime Fiction (Wildside Press, 2019) ISBN 978-1-4794-4546-2. External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ruth Rendell. Baroness Ruth Rendell at British Council: Literature Gusworld Ruth Rendell information site with detailed bibliography Ruth Rendell at Random House Australia Fatal Inversions detailed Barbara Vine information site with bibliography Ruth Rendell on IMDb Baroness Rendell of Babergh at TheyWorkForYou.com Ruth Rendell in a video interview on The Interview Online talking about Sherlock Holmes Works by Ruth Rendell at Open Library v t e Ruth Rendell Inspector Wexford novels 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 No Man's Nightingale Stand-alone novels To Fear a Painted Devil Vanity Dies Hard The Secret House of Death One Across, Two Down The Face of Trespass A Demon in My View A Judgement in Stone Make Death Love Me The Lake of Darkness Master of the Moor The Killing Doll The Tree of Hands Live Flesh Heartstones Talking to Strange Men The Bridesmaid Going Wrong The Crocodile Bird The Keys to the Street A Sight for Sore Eyes Adam and Eve and Pinch Me The Rottweiler Thirteen Steps Down The Thief The Water's Lovely Portobello Tigerlily's Orchids The Saint Zita Society The Girl Next Door Dark Corners As Barbara Vine A Dark-Adapted Eye A Fatal Inversion The House of Stairs Gallowglass King Solomon's Carpet Asta's Book No Night is Too Long The Brimstone Wedding The Chimney Sweeper's Boy Grasshopper The Blood Doctor The Minotaur The Birthday Present The Child's Child Short story collections The Fallen Curtain Means of Evil The Fever Tree The New Girlfriend The Copper Peacock Blood Lines Piranha to Scurfy A Spot of Folly TV series The Ruth Rendell Mysteries The Barbara Vine Mysteries Authority control BIBSYS: 90054179 BNE: XX864899 BNF: cb12349177t (data) CANTIC: a10145023 CiNii: DA02111079 GND: 119512181 ICCU: IT\ICCU\CFIV\016387 ISNI: 0000 0001 2149 1740 LCCN: n79056533 LNB: 000002664 MBA: eeb4d913-9be0-4c70-9952-34d4a6d4be25 NDL: 00453983 NKC: jn19990006954 NLA: 35447936 NLI: 000110744 NLK: KAC199622798 NLP: A29937590 NTA: 068845057 PLWABN: 9810628780005606 RERO: 02-A000136872 SELIBR: 385547 SNAC: w6514867 SUDOC: 032467265 Trove: 221656 UKPARL: LQzlbSug VIAF: 120719476 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n79056533 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ruth_Rendell&oldid=994070796" Categories: 1930 births 2015 deaths 21st-century English novelists 20th-century English novelists People from Loughton 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers Anthony Award winners Cartier Diamond Dagger winners Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Disease-related deaths in England Edgar Award winners English crime fiction writers English mystery writers English people of Swedish descent English women novelists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Female life peers Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II Literary peers Members of the Detection Club People from Aldeburgh People from Woodford, London Pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers Writers from London Women mystery writers Hidden categories: Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata EngvarB from August 2014 Use dmy dates from August 2014 Commons category link from Wikidata Articles with Open Library links Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNE identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ICCU identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with LNB identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLI identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLK identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLP identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with RERO identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers Wikipedia articles with UKPARL identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers AC with 26 elements Place of death missing Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages Afrikaans Alemannisch العربية تۆرکجه Български Brezhoneg Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Emiliàn e rumagnòl Español Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 Ido Italiano עברית Lëtzebuergesch മലയാളം مصرى Nederlands 日本語 Norsk bokmål Polski Português Русский Scots Simple English Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 13 December 2020, at 23:37 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Mobile view Developers Statistics Cookie statement