Ruth Rendell Reading Order
8 series · 120 books · Born 17 February 1930
Ruth Rendell was a distinguished English crime novelist known for her compelling psychological thrillers. With a prolific career spanning from 1964 to 2021, she authored 120 works across eight series, including the celebrated Inspector Wexford series and various standalone novels. Her notable contributions to the genre have solidified her legacy as one of the foremost figures in crime literature.
Anthologies Series
Likely Complete32 books (1970–2021)
Start with Simply The Best Mysteries, Edgar Award Winners And Front Runners, the first of 32 books in the Anthologies series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Simply The Best Mysteries, Edgar Award Winners And Front Runners 1970Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  The 23rd Pan Book of Horror Stories 1982Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  Murder in the Dark 1983Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  The Web She Weaves 1983Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 | Ready or Not: Here Come Fourteen Frightening Stories! 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  English Country House Murders 1988Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  Mystery Cats 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  The Picador Book of the New Gothic 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  1st Culprit 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  The Man Who... 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 |  Women of Mystery 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 | Fifty Best Mysteries 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1992 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 |  3rd Culprit 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 | Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: November 1994 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories 1993 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  Women of Mystery II 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 | Murder Intercontinental 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 19 |  Murder by the Book 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 20 | Win, Lose or Die 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 21 |  Women of Mystery III 1998Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 22 |  Crime After Crime 1999Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 23 | Crime Never Pays 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 24 |  The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories 3 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 25 |  Murder On The Railways 2003Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 26 |  Feline Felonies 2006Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 27 | Unforgettable Ghost Stories by Women Writers 2008Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 28 |  Great Modern Stories 2009Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 29 |  Midsummer Nights 2009Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 30 |  Short Stories: The Thoroughly Modern Collection 2009Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 31 | Murder in Midsummer: Classic Mysteries for the Holidays 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 32 |  Murder Takes a Holiday 2021Buy 🇺🇸 |
Children's Series
Complete1 book (2013–2013)
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Archie and Archie 2013Buy 🇺🇸 |
Inspector Wexford Series
Complete25 books (1964–2013)
Start with From Doon With Death, the first of 25 books in the Inspector Wexford series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  From Doon With Death 1964Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  Sins of the Fathers / A New Lease of Death 1967Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  Wolf to the Slaughter 1967Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  The Best Man to Die 1969Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  A Guilty Thing Surprised 1970Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  No More Dying Then 1971Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  Murder Being Once Done 1972Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 | Some Lie and Some Die 1973Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  Shake Hands Forever 1975Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  A Sleeping Life 1978Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 |  Death Notes / Put On By Cunning 1981Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 |  Speaker of Mandarin 1983Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  An Unkindness of Ravens 1985Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 |  The Veiled One 1988Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 | Ginger and the Kingsmarkham 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  Kissing the Gunner's Daughter 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  Simisola 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 |  Road Rage 1997Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 19 |  Harm Done 1999Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 20 |  The Babes in the Wood 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 21 |  End in Tears 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 22 |  Not in the Flesh 2007Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 23 |  The Monster in the Box 2009Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 24 |  The Vault 2011Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 25 |  No Man's Nightingale 2013Buy 🇺🇸 |
Inspector Wexford Collections Series
Complete1 book (1979–1979)
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Means of Evil 1979Buy 🇺🇸 |
Non-Fiction Series
Complete2 books (1992–1995)
Start with Ruth Rendell's Suffolk and read in order.
Short Stories/Novellas Series
Complete5 books (1985–2005)
Start with The Convolvulus Clock, the first of 5 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.
Short Story Collections Series
Complete11 books (1976–2019)
Start with The Fallen Curtain, the first of 11 books in the Short Story Collections series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  The Fallen Curtain 1976Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  The Fever Tree 1982Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  The New Girlfriend 1985Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  Collected Short Stories 1989Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  The Copper Peacock and Other Stories 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  Blood Lines 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  Piranha to Scurfy 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  Collected Stories Vol 1 2006Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  Ruth Rendell: Short Stories 2006Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  A Spot of Folly 2017Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 | BBC Radio Drama Collection 2019Buy 🇺🇸 |
Standalone Novels Series
Complete43 books (1965–2015)
Start with To Fear a Painted Devil, the first of 43 books in the Standalone Novels series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  To Fear a Painted Devil 1965Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  Vanity Dies Hard 1966Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  The Secret House Of Death 1968Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  One Across, Two Down 1971Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  The Face of Trespass 1974Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  A Demon in My View 1976Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  A Judgement in Stone 1977Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  Make Death Love Me 1979Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  The Lake of Darkness 1980Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 | Master of the Moor 1982Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 | The Killing Doll 1984Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 |  The Tree of Hands 1984Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  A Dark-Adapted Eye(As: Barbara Vine) 1986Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 |  Live Flesh 1986Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 |  A Fatal Inversion(As: Barbara Vine) 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  Talking to Strange Men 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  The House of Stairs(As: Barbara Vine) 1988Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 |  The Bridesmaid 1989Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 19 |  Gallowglass(As: Barbara Vine) 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 20 |  Going Wrong 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 21 |  King Solomon's Carpet(As: Barbara Vine) 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 22 |  Asta's Book / Anna's Book(As: Barbara Vine) 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 23 |  The Crocodile Bird 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 24 |  No Night Is Too Long(As: Barbara Vine) 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 25 |  In the Time of His Prosperity(As: Barbara Vine) 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 26 |  The Brimstone Wedding(As: Barbara Vine) 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 27 |  The Keys to the Street 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 28 |  A Sight for Sore Eyes 1998Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 29 |  The Chimney Sweeper's Boy(As: Barbara Vine) 1998Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 30 |  Grasshopper(As: Barbara Vine) 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 31 |  Adam and Eve and Pinch Me 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 32 |  The Blood Doctor(As: Barbara Vine) 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 33 |  The Rottweiler 2003Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 34 |  13 Steps Down 2004Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 35 | Minotaur(As: Barbara Vine) 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 36 |  The Water's Lovely 2006Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 37 |  Birthday Present(As: Barbara Vine) 2008Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 38 |  Portobello 2008Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 39 |  Tigerlily's Orchids 2010Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 40 |  The Child's Child(As: Barbara Vine) 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 41 |  The Saint Zita Society 2012Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 42 |  The Girl Next Door 2014Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 43 |  Dark Corners 2015Buy 🇺🇸 |
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many books has Ruth Rendell written?
- Ruth Rendell has written 120 books across 8 series. Their published works span from 1964 to 2021.
- What is the first book in each Ruth Rendell series?
- Here are the first books in Ruth Rendell's series: Anthologies: Simply The Best Mysteries, Edgar Award Winners And Front Runners; Inspector Wexford: From Doon With Death; Non-Fiction: Ruth Rendell's Suffolk; Short Stories/Novellas: The Convolvulus Clock; Short Story Collections: The Fallen Curtain.
- What order should I read Ruth Rendell's books?
- We recommend reading Ruth Rendell's series in publication order. Each series can be read independently.
- Are Ruth Rendell's series complete?
- Ruth Rendell has 7 completed series.