Ruth Rendell, crime writer, dies at age 85

LONDON: Ruth Rendell, the British doyenne of crime fiction who gave her readers sleepless nights through the page-turning procedurals of her Inspector Wexford novels and the psychological thrillers she published under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, has died. She was 85. Rendell passed away at 8 am in London, the Press Association reported, citing a statement from publisher Penguin Random House. She suffered a stroke on January 7, her publisher said in a January 15 statement.

The author of more than 60 best-selling novels, Rendell had recently completed a new book for the company and plans remain in place to publish it later this year. The writer’s most recent publication, “The Girl Next Door,” was released in 2014, along with a 50th-anniversary edition of her debut novel, “From Doon With Death.”

Rendell wrote more than 20 Wexford novels, many of which were dramatised on British television from 1987 to 2000, starring George Baker in the title role. She was born Ruth Barbara Grasemann on February 17, 1930, in South Woodford, East London, to Arthur Grasemann and his Swedish-Danish wife, Ebba, according to a 2013 article in the Independent newspaper.

Educated at the County High School for Girls, in Loughton, Essex, east of London, Rendell worked as a reporter on a local newspaper. Wexford is, she told the Telegraph newspaper in a 2011 interview, an “ordinary” man. “Men identify with him, women fall in love with him, strangely enough,” she said.