A Guilty Thing Surprised
  • Published: 15 October 2009
  • ISBN: 9780099534846
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $32.99

A Guilty Thing Surprised

an engrossing and enthralling Wexford mystery from the award-winning queen of crime, Ruth Rendell

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Sep 2010
Paperback
15 Oct 2009
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The fifth book in the bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series. Perfect for both collectors and new fans of award-winning crime novelist Ruth Rendell, who has written classic detective fiction and gripping psychological thrillers including End in Tears and Thirteen Steps Down.

In A Guilty Thing Surprised, multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell has created a thriller so taut and tense and full of twists and turns, you'll be gripped from page one. An absolute must for fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon.
'Ruth Rendell is England's premier detective-thriller writer' -- Spectator
'The best mystery writer in the English-speaking world' -- The Times
'Ruth Rendell has a sharp and perceptive eye for everyday detail, an uncanny understanding of human behaviour and, above all, the ability to colour innocence with evil' -- The Sunday Telegraph
'I could not put the book down!' -- ***** Reader review
'You'll love it!' -- ***** Reader review
'A real page-turner' -- ***** Reader review
'Wexford at his compelling best' -- ***** Reader review

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EVEN THE DEAD HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE...

The discovery of Elizabeth Nightingale's broken body in the woods near her home could not have come as a bigger shock.

Called in to investigate, Chief Inspector Wexford quickly determines that the Nightingales were considered the perfect couple - wealthy, attractive and without an enemy in the world.

However, someone must have been alone with Elizabeth that night in the woods. Someone who hated - or perhaps loved - her enough to beat her to death.

The case seems straightforward. But Wexford soon learns that beneath the placid surface of the Nightingales' lives lie undercurrents and secrets no one ever suspected...
  • Published: 15 October 2009
  • ISBN: 9780099534846
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 256
  • RRP: $32.99
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About the author

Ruth Rendell

Ruth Rendell was an exceptional crime writer, and will be remembered as a legend in her own lifetime. Her groundbreaking debut novel, From Doon With Death, was first published in 1964 and introduced the reader to her enduring and popular detective, Inspector Reginald Wexford, who went on to feature in twenty-four of her subsequent novels.

With worldwide sales of approximately 20 million copies, Rendell was a regular Sunday Times bestseller. Her sixty bestselling novels include police procedurals, some of which have been successfully adapted for TV, stand-alone psychological mysteries, and a third strand of crime novels under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Very much abreast of her times, the Wexford books in particular often engaged with social or political issues close to her heart.

Rendell won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger for 1976’s best crime novel with A Demon in My View, a Gold Dagger award for Live Flesh in 1986, and the Sunday Times Literary Award in 1990. In 2013 she was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer.

Ruth Rendell died in May 2015. Her final novel, Dark Corners, was published in October 2015.

portrait photo of Ruth Rendell

Also by Ruth Rendell

Dark Corners
The Girl Next Door
Archie and Archie
No Man's Nightingale
The Saint Zita Society
Expectations / Lizzie's Lover / Shreds and Slivers / The Carer / Unacceptable Levels (Storycuts)
Computer Seance / Fair Exchange (Storycuts)
See all

Praise for A Guilty Thing Surprised

Ruth Rendell has quite simply transformed the genre of crime writing. She displays her peerless skill in blending the mundane, commonplace aspects of life with the potent murky impulses of desire and greed, obsession and fear

Sunday Times

Rendell never fails to come up trumps, and her millions of admirers will eagerly consume this offering as they have all the others.

The Irish Times

This is Rendell on cracking form, with the entire accoutrements one expects from her.

The Good Book Guide

A firm grasp of social concerns ensure that her novels are reflective of our own times, as well as hugely absorbing.

Louise Welsh, The Times

One of the best novelists writing today

P.D. James

It's not often you pick up a book where the plot is technically perfect, where the characters all come off the page perfectly formed and the writing is so good that it's impossible to spot an unnecessary word, but which still managed to be a damn good story. I was still reading at 2 o'clock this morning...

TheBookbag.co.uk

Psychologically acute and extremely disturbing, Ruth Rendell's work is outstanding.

The Times

[Wexford] has become an old friend who gets better with age.

The Herald