Mistress of the Plot

Famed for her elegant prose style (‘one of our most important novelists’, John Mortimer) and sharp insights, Ruth Rendell’s psychological thrillers and murder mysteries have won countless prizes. Her liberal and phenomenally popular detective, Reginald Wexford, featured in a long-running TV series.
A Labour Peer, her interest in outsiders and progressive views are reflected in her novels. She discusses why she has spent her life writing about weirdos and psychopaths, with Peter Kemp, Chief Fiction Reviewer of the Sunday Times.