From Doon With Death
  • Published: 15 October 2009
  • ISBN: 9780099534785
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $32.99

From Doon With Death

(A Wexford Case) The brilliantly chilling and captivating first Inspector Wexford novel from the award-winning Queen of Crime

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Jul 2010
Paperback
2 Jun 2014
Paperback
15 Oct 2009
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The first novel from award-winning crime writer Ruth Rendell, and the first book in the bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series. From Doon With Death is the debut work of the crime legend who wrote classic detective fiction and gripping psychological thrillers including End in Tears and Thirteen Steps Down. Perfect for collectors and new fans of Rendell alike.

The first book to feature the classic crime-solving detective, Chief Inspector Wexford.

An ordinary life. An extraordinary death.

The trampled grass led to the body of Margaret Parsons.

With no useful clues and a victim known only for her mundane life, Chief Inspector Wexford is baffled until he discovers Margaret's dark secret - a collection of rare books, each inscribed from a secret lover and signed only as 'Doon'.

Who is Doon? And could the answer hold the key to Wexford solving his first case?

'If crime fiction is currently in rude good health, its practitioners striving to better the craft and keep it fresh, vibrant and relevant, this is in no small part thanks to Ruth Rendell.' Ian Rankin
  • Published: 15 October 2009
  • ISBN: 9780099534785
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • 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 From Doon With Death

As Wexford’s investigation gathers pace, we experience the conflicts and contradictions of the Sixties when the social fabric was turned inside-out . . . a classic mystery, as true to life now as it was half a century ago.

Mail Online

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