Ruth Rendell

This is the dazzling new novel from Ruth Rendell. When the bones of two severed hands are discovered in a box, an investigation into a long buried crime of passion begins. And a group of friends, who played together as children, begin to question their past. 'For Woody, anger was cold. Cold and slow. But once it had started it mounted gradually and he could think of nothing else. He knew he couldn't stay alive while those two were alive. Instead of sleeping, he lay awake in the dark and saw those hands. Anita's narrow white hand with the long nails painted pastel pink, the man's brown hand equally shapely, the fingers slightly splayed.' Before the advent of the Second World War, beneath the green meadows of Loughton, Essex, a dark network of tunnels has been dug. A group of children discover them. They play there. It becomes their secret place. Seventy years on, the world has changed. Developers have altered the rural landscape. Friends from a half-remembered world have married, died, grown sick, moved on or disappeared. Work on a new house called Warlock uncovers a grisly secret, buried a lifetime ago, and a weary detective, more preoccupied with current crimes, must investigate a possible case of murder. In all her novels, Ruth Rendell digs deep beneath the surface to investigate the secrets of the human psyche. The interconnecting tunnels of Loughton in The Girl Next Door lead to no single destination. But the relationships formed there, and the incidents that occurred, exert a profound influence - not only on the survivors but in unearthing the true nature of the mysterious past.

No Man's Nightingale: the eagerly anticipated twenty-fourth title in Ruth Rendell's bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series. Sarah Hussain was not popular with many people in the community of Kingsmarkham. She was born of mixed parentage - a white Irishwoman and an immigrant Indian Hindu. She was also the Reverend of St Peter's Church. But it comes as a profound shock to everyone when she is found strangled in the Vicarage. A garrulous cleaner, Maxine, also shared by the Wexfords, discovers the body. In his comparatively recent retirement, the former Detective Chief Inspector is devoting much time to reading, and is deep into Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He has little patience with Maxine's prattle. But when his old friend Mike Burden asks if he might like to assist on this case as Crime Solutions Adviser (unpaid), Wexford is obliged to pay more precise attention to all available information. The old instincts have not been blunted by a life where he and Dora divide their time between London and Kingsmarkham. Wexford retains a relish for solving puzzles and a curiosity about people which is invaluable in detective work. For all his experience and sophistication, Burden tends to jump to conclusions. But he is wise enough to listen to the man whose office he inherited, and whose experience makes him a most formidable ally.

Penzionovaný šéfinspektor Wexford pomáhá policii vyšetřovat vraždu Šéfinspektor Reg Wexford odešel do důchodu a pobývá se svou ženou Dorou střídavě na venkově a v Londýně. Konečně má čas na své knihy, ale policejní práce mu stále chybí. V Londýně náhodou potká Toma Edea, známého z časů, kdy u policie začínal. Tom se za ta léta vypracoval na detektiva superintendenta a horlivě Wexforda přemlouvá, aby se jako poradce účastnil vyšetřování jeho případu. Ve starém nepoužívaném uhelném sklepě krásného domu ve St John´s Wood byla nalezena těla dvou žen a jednoho muže. Jejich totožnost se nedá určit, muž měl však v kapse šperky v hodnotě čtyřiceti tisíc liber. Kdo z majitelů domu mrtvoly do sklepa ukryl? Wexford přijímá Tomovu výzvu a pouští se do vyšetřování, netuší ale, že se tím sám vystavuje smrtelnému nebezpečí.

Someone had told Dex that the Queen lived in Victoria. So did he, but she had a palace and he had one room in a street off Warwick Way. Still he liked the idea that she was his neighbour.' Dex works as a gardener for Dr Jefferson at his home on Hexam Place in Pimlico: an exclusive street of white-painted stucco Georgian houses inhabited by the rich, and serviced by the not so rich. The hired help, a motley assortment of au pairs, drivers and cleaners, decide to form the St Zita Society (Zita was the patron saint of domestic servants) as an excuse to meet at the local pub and air their grievances. When Dex is invited to attend one of these meetings, the others find that he is a strange man, seemingly ill at ease with human beings. These first impressions are compounded when they discover he has recently been released from a hospital for the criminally insane, where he was incarcerated for attempting to kill his own mother. Dex's most meaningful relationship seems to be with his mobile phone service provider, Peach, and he interprets the text notifications and messages he receives from the company as a reassuring sign that there is some kind of god who will protect him. And give him instructions about ridding the world of evil spirits...Accidental death and pathological madness cohabit above and below stairs in Hexam Place.

Portobello – barvitá ulice se zvláštní atmosférou v londýnské čtvrti Notting Hill. Sem umístila Ruth Rendellová děj svého dalšího zajímavého románu, v němž zdánlivě nepodstatná náhoda spouští řetězec událostí, které se nedají zastavit. Když majitel galerie Eugene Wren najde na ulici obálku s penězi, neodevzdá ji policii, ale vyvěsí oznámení, aby mu ten, kdo ji ztratil, zavolal. Tento vzkaz propojí životy naprosto odlišných lidí, každý z nich má svá tajemství, obsese, problémy, sny, zoufalá přání. Ruth Rendellová opět svým strhujícím způsobem nahlíží do zákoutí lidských osudů.

Portobello – barvitá ulice se zvláštní atmosférou v londýnské čtvrti Notting Hill. Sem umístila Ruth Rendellová děj svého dalšího zajímavého románu, v němž zdánlivě nepodstatná náhoda spouští řetězec událostí, které se nedají zastavit. Když majitel galerie Eugene Wren najde na ulici obálku s penězi, neodevzdá ji policii, ale vyvěsí oznámení, aby mu ten, kdo ji ztratil, zavolal. Tento vzkaz propojí životy naprosto odlišných lidí, každý z nich má svá tajemství, obsese, problémy, sny, zoufalá přání. Ruth Rendellová opět svým strhujícím způsobem nahlíží do zákoutí lidských osudů.

The Macmillan Readers series are carefully graded from Starter to Upper Intermediate (A1-B2) to help students choose the right reading material for their ability. Our list of titles includes great stories from both contemporary and classic authors. Chief Inspector Wexford had been sure that the murder of an old lady was carried out by her employee, Herbert Painter, and the courts had agreed with him. But then Henry Archery, whose son is engaged to marry Painter's daughter, starts questioning the case...