The new collection from Ruth Rendell comprising of the bestselling short stories
The New Girl Friend, The Copper Peacock, Blood Lines and
Piranha to Scurfy.
'Murders sometimes seem an afterthought to Rendell's stories: the obvious way to closure but not really necessary to compel our attention, because they are not the grisliest things on show. Death seems cosy compared with the lives she describes.
You can see this in her short stories, each of which is like a condensed, polished Rendell novel.'Daily Telegraph
The New Girl Friend was published in 1985, and the title story earned Rendell her second Edgar award.
'Every tale is carefully crafted and climaxed, her feel for lurking malevolence is as assured as ever.' The Times
Then came The Copper Peacock in 1991, a collection of nine short stories in which 'the macabre potential of blameless situations such as village fetes, aquariums and even the broom cupboard are explored to provoke maximum unease in readers.' Sunday Times
Blood Lines, first published in 1995, includes the long title story and a novella, The Strawberry Tree, as well as nine short stories.
'Ruth Rendell remains one of the most stylish, chilling and challenging writers around.' Tribune
Piranha to Scurfy followed in 2000.
'Horror does not shake its gory locks directly at us, but hovers on the periphery of our inner vision, hidden among the ordinary, the everyday.' Jane Shilling, Sunday Telegraph
Author Biography: Ruth Rendell has won many awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for 1976's best crime novel with A Demon in My View; a second Edgar in 1984 from the Mystery Writers of America for the best short story, The New Girl Friend; a Gold Dagger award for Live Flesh in 1986.
She was also the winner of the 1990 Sunday Times Literary award, as well as the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer.
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