The Ruth Rendell Mysteries

On Christmas Eve, Wexford and Burden are called to the Kingsmarkham Hospital. A baby has been stolen from its pram and another baby left behind in its place, and it seems that the mother of the stolen child may also be in danger.

Gwen Robson, a middle-aged housewife who proves to have been a blackmailer, is found garotted in the car park of a suburban shopping mall. Wexford is no sooner on the case than a car bomb goes off and all but kills him, putting him in hospital. This leaves Mike Burden with the task of solving the case, but he goes off on the wrong scent. Wexford's analysis is better, though.

An old man, Sir Mañuel Camarque, dies when he loses his foothold on a dark winter night, slips into a lake and drowns under the ice. It looks like an open-and-shut case. However...Camarque, who was a world-famous flautist, planned to marry Dinah Sternhold, a woman young enough to be his grand-daughter. The banns of the marriage had just been read for the third time in church and Sir Mañuel was nervous. Dinah tells Wexford that Camarque had suspicions that his daughter Natalie (who would inherit his fortune) was not his daughter at all but an impostor. Wexford investigates, and develops a theory of an intruder who pushed the old man into the lake.

One evening, someone messes up a love-nest on a side street in a small country town. The carpet is soaked with human blood, but there is no body to be found. Meanwhile, a beautiful, promiscuous woman goes missing - as does the bundle of cash she was carrying. But Wexford and Burden have different theories about the disappearance of the eccentric Anita Margolis.

Wexford finds he is dealing with a very nasty case when nature-loving Elizabeth Nightingale is murdered on one of her nightly walks through the woods around Myfleet Manor.

The Kingsmarkham police investigate the disappearance of John Lawrence, a five-year-old boy.Seven-and-a-half months after he goes missing, mad, taunting letters begin to arrive, and another child, Stella Rivers, vanishes.

The Kingsmarkham rock festival is going smoothly until the disfigured body of of a local girl, thought to be living in London, is found in a nearby quarry. Wexford investigates the links between a charismatic singer and a young woman gone to the bad.

A local clergyman is anxious to re-open a thirty-year-old murder case, which resulted in Harry Painter being hanged for the axe-murder of an elderly woman. Wexford himself, as a young detective sergeant, helped to convict Painter, and he has to face the possibility that the wrong man was hanged.

Wexford is in China on a study tour of historic sites. To his amazement, he has psychic experiences, including a vision of the body of a Chinese nobleman dead for two thousand years. Wexford's tour party is made up of strangers, but he feels tense and claustrophobic among them. Then a young Chinese student drowns during the trip. On his return to England, Wexford is called to a murder scene, and the dead woman, who has been shot, was one of those with him on his Chinese trip. There is no obvious motive, and he decides to investigate all his fellow tourists, finding hidden greed, treachery, theft, and adultery.

Stephen Whalby is a young man living on the edge of the Moor, where since childhood he has spent most of his time alone. A string of young women, all with fair hair, are killed on the Moor, and suddenly Stephen finds himself the principal police suspect.

Part two of three. Stephen's passion for the moor fuels the detective's suspicions, as his neglected wife is driven into the arms of danger.

Conclusion. A secret hideaway from Stephen's childhood leads to him uncovering the identity of the Master of the Moor.

Andrew Fielding, a good-looking young teacher, marries Alice Whittaker, a rich woman in her late thirties, more than ten years older than he is. All seems well until Alice introduces Andrew to Nesta Drage, her best friend, who quickly vanishes without trace. Meanwhile, Alice more and more doubts whether Andrew loves her - and if he is just a gold-digger, might he have something to do with Nesta's disappearance? Alice begins a search for Nesta - but Andrew does his best to tie his wife to the house.

Part two of a moody whodunit from the pen of Britain's queen of crime fiction, starring Eleanor David as bride-to-be Alice Whittaker, whose marriage plans are thrown into turmoil by the disappearance of a close friend opposed to her impending nuptials. Disregarding assurances that there is nothing to worry about, Alice sets out to investigate - and soon uncovers evidence of foul play lurking just beneath the surface of local life.

Part three. The spinster's suspicions grow when her best friend mysteriously disappears, and as illness takes control she realises her ally was murdered.

A middle-aged man returns to his home town and meets the woman he was in love with as a teenager thirty years before. Liz and Mark are soon an item again - but the past comes back to haunt them.

At first, this mystery seems to be a missing person case: Wexford's doctor asks for help in finding his daughter, Melanie Akande, a recent college graduate who disappeared after going to her local unemployment office to find a job. The Akandes are an immigrant family from Nigeria, living in a rural area where only a handful of black people live. The woman who handled Melanie's case at the unemployment office, also young and black, is found murdered a few days later. Could the disappearance and the murder be connected? Wexford begins to face up to subtly racist attitudes.

Wexford visits the victim of another attempted murder in hospital, and notices a pink Volkswagen Beetle in the car park. Later, another attempt is made on her life. The car is traced to the Epson family, who are away, having left their children with a childminder - who turns out to be Melanie Akande. Wexford closes in on the link - Annette Bystock and Zack Nelson.

Lisa meets Zoe, who is as much like her as an identical twin, but entirely out of the common rut - and dramatic events ensue which change both their lives.

Nicholas Hawthorne is a young engineer, recently made redundant and looking for a job in the boat-building industry. He has a very realistic nightmare about a woman being murdered. Then, on an unsuccessful dinner date, Nicholas spots Julian Sorensen, the boss of the firm which has laid him off, and the woman with him isn't his wife. Sorensen pays Nicholas's dinner bill. The next day, trying to pay back the money, Nicholas sees a photograph of Sorensen's wife - and she is the woman who was killed in his dream... Nicholas decides to investigate.

Part two of two. Nick's attempted suicide implicates him in Emma's death and Annabel casts light on the mystery.

As a teenager, Guy Curran leads a street gang and for three years is the lover of Leonora, whose middle-class background is a world away from his own. Leonora's family disapprove of her boyfriend. As the years pass, they drift apart. Guy becomes a successful business man and Leonora goes to college and then gets her first job. When they meet again, Leonora says there is now someone else in her life, but Guy can't accept this. His obsession deepens and turns into a murderous madness...

Part two. While attending a party with Celeste, Guy argues with Leonora's brother. He then asks Danny to kill him - but when he learns of an impending marriage, Guy realises he has targeted the wrong man.

Part three of three. After losing the fight with William, Guy decides to forget Leonora and make it up to Celeste, but a surprise invitation rekindles his old obsession and leads to tragedy.

Wexford copes with two abductions of teen-aged girls, the disappearance of a 3 year old from her bedroom, and the return of a paroled pedophile to the town.