The Veiled One

a captivating and utterly satisfying murder mystery featuring Inspector Wexford from the award-winning queen of crime, Ruth Rendell

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Summary

Readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will love this mesmerising and bone-chilling thriller from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. You'll be hooked from page one!

'As sharp, observant and intelligent as ever' -- Sunday Express
'A dark, gripping novel permeated with unease and psychological twists . . . Certain to send a shiver down your spine' -- Today
'I LOVED IT' -- ***** Reader review
'Keeps you guessing' -- ***** Reader review
'I couldn't put it down!!' -- ***** Reader review
'Rendell at her best' -- ***** Reader review
'Intricate jewel of a puzzle' -- ***** Reader review
*****
Concealed by a shroud of dirty brown velvet, looking like a heap of rags, the woman's dead body lay between a silver Escort and a dark-blue Lancia.

In the desolate shopping centre car park, Wexford has been too preoccupied to notice anything out of the ordinary - only the teenage girl in the red car, driving past him rather too fast. It was Burden who called him at home with the grim news later that evening: the woman had been attacked from behind, perhaps with a thin length of wire.

But before Wexford can delve any deeper into this curious murder, he, too, faces death... Can Burden solve this mysterious crime without the help of his worldly Chief Inspector?

Reviews

As sharp, observant and intelligent as ever
Sunday Express

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.

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