Order of Ruth Rendell Books

Ruth Rendell (1930-2015) was an English writer known for her crime fiction, psychological thrillers, and mystery novels. Alongside P.D. James, she is recognized for evolving the whodunit subgenre into a more complex whydunit. Her most famous work is the Inspector Wexford series. She also published under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Rendell made her literary debut with From Doon With Death in 1964, which marked the start of her Inspector Wexford series. Below is a chronological list of Ruth Rendell’s books based on their original release dates.

Ruth Rendell became a published novelist in 1964 with the novel From Doon With Death. Below is a list of Ruth Rendell's books in order of when they were originally released:

Publication Order of Inspector Wexford Books

Book Title	Year	Amazon USA	Amazon UK
From Doon With Death	(1964)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Sins of the Fathers / A New Lease of Death	(1967)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Wolf to the Slaughter	(1967)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Best Man to Die	(1969)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
A Guilty Thing Surprised	(1970)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
No More Dying Then	(1971)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Murder Being Once Done	(1972)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Some Lie and Some Die	(1973)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Shake Hands Forever	(1975)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
A Sleeping Life	(1978)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Death Notes / Put On By Cunning	(1981)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Speaker of Mandarin	(1983)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
An Unkindness of Ravens	(1985)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Veiled One	(1988)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Kissing the Gunner's Daughter	(1992)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Ginger and the Kingsmarkham	(1992)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Simisola	(1994)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Road Rage	(1997)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Harm Done	(1999)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Babes in the Wood	(2002)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
End in Tears	(2005)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Not in the Flesh	(2007)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Monster in the Box	(2009)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Vault	(2011)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
No Man's Nightingale	(2013)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk

Publication Order of Inspector Wexford Collections Books

Book Title	Year	Amazon USA	Amazon UK
Means of Evil	(1979)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk

Publication Order of Standalone Novels Books

Book Title	Year	Amazon USA	Amazon UK
To Fear a Painted Devil	(1965)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Vanity Dies Hard	(1966)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Secret House Of Death	(1968)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
One Across, Two Down	(1971)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Face of Trespass	(1974)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
A Demon in My View	(1976)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
A Judgement in Stone	(1977)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Make Death Love Me	(1979)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Lake of Darkness	(1980)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Master of the Moor	(1982)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Killing Doll	(1984)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Tree of Hands	(1984)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Live Flesh	(1986)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
A Dark-Adapted Eye (As: Barbara Vine)	(1986)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Talking to Strange Men	(1987)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
A Fatal Inversion (As: Barbara Vine)	(1987)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The House of Stairs (As: Barbara Vine)	(1988)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Bridesmaid	(1989)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Going Wrong	(1990)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Gallowglass (As: Barbara Vine)	(1990)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
King Solomon's Carpet (As: Barbara Vine)	(1991)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Crocodile Bird	(1993)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Asta's Book / Anna's Book (As: Barbara Vine)	(1993)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
No Night Is Too Long (As: Barbara Vine)	(1994)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
In the Time of His Prosperity (As: Barbara Vine)	(1995)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Brimstone Wedding (As: Barbara Vine)	(1995)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Keys to the Street	(1996)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
A Sight for Sore Eyes	(1998)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Chimney Sweeper's Boy (As: Barbara Vine)	(1998)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Grasshopper (As: Barbara Vine)	(2000)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Adam and Eve and Pinch Me	(2001)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Blood Doctor (As: Barbara Vine)	(2002)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Rottweiler	(2003)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
13 Steps Down	(2004)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Minotaur (As: Barbara Vine)	(2005)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Water's Lovely	(2006)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Birthday Present (As: Barbara Vine)	(2008)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Portobello	(2008)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Tigerlily's Orchids	(2010)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Saint Zita Society	(2012)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Child's Child (As: Barbara Vine)	(2012)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Girl Next Door	(2014)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Dark Corners	(2015)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas Books

Book Title	Year	Amazon USA	Amazon UK
The Convolvulus Clock	(1985)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Heartstones	(1987)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Long Live The Queen	(1991)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Thornapple	(1998)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Thief	(2005)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk

Publication Order of Short Story Collections Books

Book Title	Year	Amazon USA	Amazon UK
The Fallen Curtain	(1976)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Fever Tree	(1982)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The New Girlfriend	(1985)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Collected Short Stories	(1989)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Copper Peacock and Other Stories	(1991)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Blood Lines	(1995)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Piranha to Scurfy	(2000)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Ruth Rendell: Short Stories	(2006)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Collected Stories Vol 1	(2006)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
A Spot of Folly	(2017)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
BBC Radio Drama Collection	(2019)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk

Publication Order of Children's Books

Book Title	Year	Amazon USA	Amazon UK
Archie and Archie	(2013)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Book Title	Year	Amazon USA	Amazon UK
Ruth Rendell's Suffolk	(1992)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Reason Why	(1995)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk

Publication Order of Anthologies Books

Book Title	Year	Amazon USA	Amazon UK
The 23rd Pan Book of Horror Stories	(1982)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Web She Weaves	(1983)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Murder in the Dark	(1983)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Ready or Not: Here Come Fourteen Frightening Stories!	(1987)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
English Country House Murders	(1988)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Picador Book of the New Gothic	(1991)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Mystery Cats	(1991)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Women of Mystery	(1992)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1992	(1993)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
3rd Culprit	(1994)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Women of Mystery II	(1994)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: November 1994	(1994)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1993	(1994)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Murder Intercontinental	(1996)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Murder by the Book	(1996)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Win, Lose or Die	(1996)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Women of Mystery III	(1998)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Crime After Crime	(1999)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Crime Never Pays	(2001)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 3	(2002)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Murder On The Railways	(2003)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Feline Felonies	(2006)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Unforgettable Ghost Stories by Women Writers	(2008)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Great Modern Stories	(2009)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Midsummer Nights	(2009)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Short Stories: The Thoroughly Modern Collection	(2009)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Murder in Midsummer: Classic Mysteries for the Holidays	(2019)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
Murder Takes a Holiday	(2021)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk
The Dead of Winter: Ten Classic Tales for Chilling Nights	(2023)	Buy on Amazon.com	Buy on Amazon.co.uk

If You Like Ruth Rendell Books, You'll Love…

Elizabeth George
P.D. James
Louise Penny