It's the middle of summer. On Cornish sea-fronts, happy children grip melting ice-creams. In the south of France, sunlight filters through leaves as families picnic in the shade. And in the fashionable resorts of the Mediterranean, the beautiful people sun themselves on picture-postcard beaches.

And in those long, hot summer nights ... murder walks abroad. Away from familiar surroundings, and as the temperature rises, old grudges come to the surface, new hatreds reach boiling point - and clever minds start to make dangerous plans. These ten classic mysteries, from some of the finest crime writers, prove that no matter where you travel to - there's no rest for the wicked.

New and uncollected tales of murder, mischief, magic and madness.

Ruth Rendell was an acknowledged master of psychological suspense: these are ten (and a quarter) of her most chillingly compelling short stories, collected here together for the first time.

In these tales, a businessman boasts about cheating on his wife, only to find the tables turned. A beautiful country rectory reverberates to the echo of a historical murder. A compulsive liar acts on impulse, only to be lead inexorably to disaster. And a wealthy man finds there is more to his wife's kidnapping than meets the eye.

Atmospheric, gripping and never predictable, this is Ruth Rendell at her inimitable best.

The stories are: Never Sleep in a Bed Facing a Mirror; A Spot of Folly; The Price of Joy; The Irony of Hate; Digby's Wives; The Haunting of Shawley Rectory; A Drop Too Much; The Thief; The Long Corridor of Time; In the Time of his Prosperity; and Trebuchet.

Introduction from Sophie Hannah.

The Christmas season is one of comfort and joy, sparkling lights and steam rising from cups of mulled wine at frosty carol services. A season of goodwill to all men, as families and friends come together to forget their differences and celebrate the year together.

Unless, of course, you happen to be harbouring a grudge. Or hiding a guilty secret. Or you want something so much you just have to have it - whatever the cost. In A Very Murderous Christmas, ten of the best classic crime writers come together to unleash festive havoc, with murder, mayhem and twists aplenty.

Following Murder on Christmas Eve and Murder under the Christmas Tree, this is the perfect accompaniment to a mince pie and a roaring fire. Just make sure you're really, truly alone ...

It was a brutal, vicious crime -- sixteen years old. A helpless old woman battered to death with an axe. Harry Painter hung for it, and Chief Inspector Wexford is certain they executed the right man. But Reverend Archery has doubts . . . because his son wants to marry the murderer's beautiful, brilliant daughter. He begins unravelling the past, only to discover that murder breeds murder -- and often conceals even deeper secrets . . .

From "one of the most remarkable novelists of her generation" ("People") a "refined, probing, and intelligent" ("USA TODAY") mystery in the masterful Inspector Wexford series...more enthralling than ever after fifty years.
A female vicar named Sarah Hussein is discovered strangled in her Kingsmarkham vicarage. A single mother to a teenage girl, Hussein was working in a male-dominated profession. Moreover, she was of mixed race and wanted to modernize the church. Could racism or sexism have played a factor in her murder?
Maxine, the gossipy cleaning woman who discovered the body, happens to also be in the employ of retired Chief Inspector Wexford and his wife. Wexford is intrigued by the unusual circumstances of the murder, and when he is invited by his old deputy to tag along with the investigators, he leaps at the chance.
As Wexford searches the Vicar's house, he sees a book on her bedside table. Inside the book is a letter serving as a bookmark. Without thinking much, Wexford puts it into his pocket. Wexford soon realizes he has made a grave error in removing a piece of valuable evidence from the scene without telling anybody. Yet what he finds inside begins to illuminate the murky past of Sarah Hussein. Is there more to her than meets the eye?
"No Man's Nightingale" is Ruth Rendell's masterful twenty-fourth installment in one of the great crime series of all time, an "absorbing and rewarding" ("Seattle Times") mystery that explores issues of sexism, class, and racism. As Stephen King said: "No one surpasses Ruth Rendell."

It was better than a hotel, this anonymous room on a secluded side street of a small country town. No register to sign, no questions asked, and for five bucks a man could have three hours of undisturbed, illicit lovemaking.
Then one evening a man with a knife turned the love nest into a death chamber. The carpet was soaked with blood -- but where was the corpse?
Meanwhile, a beautiful, promiscuous woman is missing -- along with the bundle of cash she'd had in her pocket. The truth behind it all will keep even veteran mystery fans guessing through the very last page.

"From the Paperback edition."

No Man's Nightingale: the eagerly anticipated twenty-fourth title in Ruth Rendell's bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series. The woman vicar of St Peter's Church may not be popular among the community of Kingsmarkham. But it still comes as a profound shock when she is found strangled in her vicarage. Inspector Wexford is retired, but he retains a relish for solving mysteries especially when they are as close to home as this one is. So when he's asked whether he will assist on the case, he readily agrees. But why did the vicar die? And is anyone else in Kingsmarkham in danger? What Wexford doesn't know is that the killer is far closer than he, or anyone else, thinks.

'A novel should give a picture of common life enlivened by humour and sweetened by pathos.' In Dr Thorne Trollope admirably fulfils his own criteria as he recounts the story of Frank Gresham and Mary Thorne, intent on marriage despite Mary's ostensible poverty. Only the doctor knows that Mary is to inherit a large legacy that will suddenly make her acceptable to the otherwise disapproving middle-class society to which Frank belongs. There is no mystery or suspense in the telling of this story. Rather, Trollope takes the reader into his confidence and captures the imagination by means of unforgettable scenes, a lively portrayal of character and a realistic representation of society. In Frank and Mary, Trollope has given us two of his most attractive characters and, in a story that satisfies both their personal desires and the materialistic aspirations of society, has created one of his happiest novels.

Minty’s boyfriend, Jock, was killed in the disastrous train wreck at Paddington, shortly after he borrowed all her savings. Now he has come back to haunt her. Zillah lost her estranged husband, Jerry, in that same accident. She is not convinced he is actually dead, but for reasons of her own decides not to pursue the matter. Fiona’s fiancé, Jeff, has simply disappeared–quite inexplicably since she was supporting him in style.

In her ingeniously unnerving new novel, Ruth Rendell deftly traces the connections among these women–and between them a series of vicious stabbings terrifying London. Adam and Eve and Pinch Me is a masterpiece of malice and psychological suspense.

Murder, perversion, corruption, blackmail, secret terrors that lead to unspeakable acts, hidden fears that erupt in irrational violence... All these, of course, are part of someone else's world. They happen out there, far from the ordinary streets and ordinary people who live in your neighbourhood, your town. They have nothing to do with the everyday lives of people like you. Or do they? The New Girlfriend and Other Stories - an extraordinary collection of sleek and sinister stories from the writer described by Scott Turow as 'one of the greatest novelists presently at work in our language'. 'Flesh creeping skill' - OBSERVER 'Her range is extraordinary... a shocking fusillade of finales' - SUNDAY TIMES

There are only two things that interest Stanley: the crosswords and getting his hands on his mother's money, which he has dreamed about for 20 years. He finally realises that he must construct a puzzle of his own in order to give death a helping hand.

The Vangmoor was a dark, forbidding place. One victim had been found there with her face disfigured and her hair shorn close to the scalp. Then a second woman disappeared on the moor, and a sense of dread gripped the 50 local men who searched for her. Someone was watching; was it the killer?

A bank job goes wrong and a Kingsmarkham detective sergeant is killed. Months later, the Flory family are slaughtered at home by an unknown assassin. The cases seem unrelated. But Chief Inspector Wexford is not so sure. Especially when he meets and gets to know the one survivor from the Flory massacre, the disturbing and beautiful Daisy Flory.

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. Susan Townsend was the only resident with no interest in the affair going on next door, or in the neighbourhood gossip about it. Yet it was Susan who found the bodies of the lovers, locked not in passion, but in death. And Susan whose own life would be imperilled by a monstrous crime far beyond the imaginings of the vilest tongues.

A series of apparently motiveless murders disrupts the lives of some very different people in Rendell's darkly atmospheric London.
The first victim was discovered with a bite on her neck. The police traced the DNA to the girl's boyfriend, but the tabloids had already dubbed the murderer "The Rottweiler," and the name stuck. The latest body was found near Inez Ferry's shop in Marylebone. Someone spotted a figure fleeing into the shadows, but couldn't say even if it was man or woman. The only other clues are the murderer's penchant for strangling his prey, and for then removing a small token -- a necklace, a lighter.
To make ends meet, widowed Inez Ferry takes in tenants above her antique store. The unpredictable and obsessive acts of the serial murderer begin profoundly to disturb the lives of the heterogeneous little community of lodgers, especially when suspicion grows that one of them might be "The Rottweiler."

"From the Hardcover edition.

A mutilated body found at a rock festival.

In spite of dire predictions, the rock festival in Kingsmarkham seemed to be going off without a hitch, until the hideously disfigured body is discovered in a nearby quarry. And soon Wexford is investigating the links between a local girl gone bad and a charismatic singer who inspires an unwholesome devotion in his followers. Some Lie and Some Die is a devilishly absorbing novel, in which Wexford's deductive powers come up against the aloof arrogance of pop stardom.  

With her Inspector Wexford novels, Ruth Rendell, winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award, has added layers of depth, realism and unease to the classic English mystery. For the canny, tireless, and unflappable policeman is an unblinking observer of human nature, whose study has taught him that under certain circumstances the most unlikely people are capable of the most appalling crimes.

Four members of the Coverdale family died in the space of 15 minutes on St Valentine's Day. Eunice Parchman, the housekeeper, shot them down on that Sunday evening while they were watching opera on television, and was arrested two weeks later. But the tragedy neither began nor ended there.

A spine-tingling anthology by the New York Times-bestselling author and master of "psychological insight . . . and, not infrequently, teeth-chattering terror" (The New York Times). These never-before-collected stories by Ruth Rendell--the three-time Edgar Award-winning mistress of dark suspense and one of the most celebrated thriller writers of the twentieth century--are "deliciously riveting, all the more so because Rendell's extraordinary ability to delve coolly and forensically into the dustiest nooks of the human psyche is amplified, not diminished, by the short story form. . . . Often the reader is taken by the throat" (The Guardian). In "The Thief," a chance encounter with a stranger triggers the most destructive impulses in a vindictive pathological liar. A family shares an unnamable feeling of dread and a necessary denial to make it through the night in "Trebuchet." In the title story, a caddish boor can't help but boast of his infidelities. A historic murder weighs heavy on the unholy reputation of a quaint local landmark in "The Haunting of Shawley Rectory." And in "Never Sleep in a Bed Facing a Mirror," Rendell delivers a masterstroke of gasp-inducing brevity. Here are tales of mystery, madness, terrible crimes, and chilling perdition, all dispatched with a wit so knife-edged and deviousness, so impeccably cool that it's little wonder Joyce Carol Oates hails Ruth Rendell as "one of the finest practitioners of her craft."

London's wealthiest, poorest, kindest and most dangerous citizens all cross paths in Regent's Park. All it takes to bring them together is a series of brutally gruesome murders... Mary Jago has donated her bone marrow to save the life of a complete stranger; a generous act of kindness that culminates in a horrible break-up with her abusive boyfriend. Moving to the affluent edge of London's famous Regent's Park, Mary believes she has finally escaped the threat of violence. She never thought that one simple act of kindness could put her own life in mortal danger...

A terrifyingly vivid portrayal of the murderous impulses hiding in the squalor of North London from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. Readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will be hooked... 'Rendell weaves the interlocking desires into a frightening tapestry of warped minds . . . A tale as chilling as any Rendell has written' -- The Times 'Masterfully spooky. Don't read this alone' -- Red 'A top-notch thriller that will, I promise, have you nibbling your nails' -- Daily Mail 'Goodness me! This was good. Masterful plotting. Never a dull page. Fabulous characterisations...' -- ***** Reader review 'This book is a masterpiece of intrigue' -- ***** Reader review 'I couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review 'One of the most amazing books I have ever read' -- ***** Reader review **************************************************************** In traditional fairy tales the handsome prince rescues the beautiful princess from her wicked stepmother, and the couple live happily ever after. Teddy Brex emerges from a loveless, isolated childhood as a handsome but autistic young man. Francine Hill, emotionally and mentally scarred by the murder of her mother, grows into a beautiful young woman, who must endure the over-protectiveness of an increasingly obsessive stepmother. Teddy Brex does ride to her rescue, but he is a man who has already committed two murders. In Rendell's dark criminal London, can anyone be trusted? It's a world in which innocent dreams can turn into the most terrible living nightmares...

Fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will devour this enthralling mystery of deception, doubt and death from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell ... 'Probably the greatest crime writer in the world' -- Ian Rankin '[Wexford] has become an old friend who gets better with age' -- Herald 'Pacy and surprising right to the last page' -- ***** Reader review 'You cannot go wrong with a Ruth Rendell' -- ***** Reader review 'Extremely thrilling and entertaining' -- ***** Reader review 'Full of twists and turns' -- ***** Reader review ********************************************************************************** Sir Manuel Camargue, Kingsmarkham's very own celebrity flautist, dies tragically on a snowy night. His death is met with a ruling of misadventure and appears to be an open-and-shut-case. However Wexford, as the investigating officer, has a few niggling doubts. Nineteen years later, Camargue's entrancing daughter, Natalie, now a considerable heiress, suddenly reappears in Kingsmarkham. When her fiance appeals to Wexford for help, believing that Natalie is using a false identity, the case of the Camargues is once more under investigation. Events soon take a gruesome twist and the pressure is on for Wexford to discover Natalie's true identity and to solve the mystery of the Camargue family, once and for all.

Another magnificently gripping and compelling thriller from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell full of twists and turns and the odd red herring! An absolute must for fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon. 'The mistress of Mystery' -- Daily Mirror 'The Wexford books clearly display Rendell's great mastery of storytelling at its best' -- Sunday Telegraph 'Rendell never fails to come up trumps' - The Irish Times 'Consistently readable with a nice twist at the end' -- Daily Mail 'Had me gripped from the start' -- ***** Reader review 'There is simply no such thing as a bad Ruth Rendell book. She is a phenomenon. A brilliant read as always.' -- ***** Reader review 'Great Read! Rendell never disappoints.' -- ***** Reader review **************************************************************************** NOTHING IS EVER QUITE WHAT IT SEEMS... A man and his daughter lie dead after a car accident. Strangely, no other car was involved and no cause has been found. Wexford's only option is to wait and hope that the one surviving victim - the mother, Mrs Fanshawe - regains consciousness. But when she finally awakens six weeks later, Wexford's attention has already been distracted by a new and very violent case. Walking by the canal that same morning, Wexford discovered the bloody body of Charlie Hatton. The two cases are obviously unrelated, although something is bothering Wexford and he can't work out why or what. But just as he begins to wonder whether there could in fact be a connection, the unexpected occurs: the Fanshawe daughter, believed to be killed in the accident, appears at her mother's beside very much alive...