Wexford creator Ruth Rendell dies at 85

POPULAR crime writer Ruth Rendell died yesterday morning, May 2, in London.

Publishers Penguin Random House confirmed the sad news and said in a statement: “We are devastated by the loss of one of our best-loved authors.

“Ruth was very much part of our publishing family and a friend to many at Penguin Random House.

“We will miss her enormously.”

Chair of Penguin Random House UK, Baroness Gail Rebuck, said: “Ruth was much admired by the whole publishing industry for her brilliant body of work.

“An insightful and elegant observer of society, many of her award-winning thrillers and psychological murder mysteries highlighted the caused she cared so deeply about.”

Baroness Rebuck added: “Ruth was a great writer, a campaigner for social justice, a proud mother and grandmother, a generous and loyal friend and probably the best-read person I have ever met.”

The best-selling crime writer worked on various issues in the House of Lords after being made a life peer in 1997.

Known for dozens of novels including a series featuring Chief Inspector Wexford which was adapted for television, the author started her writing career as a local newspaper journalist.

Rendell was awarded a CBE in 1996 and wrote more than 60 best-selling novels, the most recently published being The Girl Next Door, which came out last year with a 50^th anniversary edition of her debut novel From Doon With Death.