“I
don't know that I am fascinated with crime. I'm fascinated with people and
their characters and their obsessions and what they do. And these things lead
to crime, but I'm much more fascinated in their minds.”
– Ruth Rendell
Rendell, in fact, made a huge impact as the
creator of a separate brand of crime fiction that explored the psychological
background of both criminals and victims.
In the process she became one of Great Britain’s (and the world’s)
all-time leading crime and mystery writers.
Born on this date in 1930, she started writing
in her late 20s and then just never really stopped until her death in
2015. During a 60-year career, she
wrote hundreds of novels, and short stories, including 24 featuring her
best-known creation, Chief Inspector Wexford.
Wexford was the hero of many popular police stories, some of them
successfully adapted for television.
She
also wrote 30 stand-alone mystery and crime novels and 15 under the pseudonym
Barbara Vine. In the process she won
virtually every major mystery and crimewriting award and was honored with the
title of Baroness by the Queen. “I
have had quite a lot of prizes,” she wrote at the time (1996) “but I don't
think it makes any difference to the ease or difficulty to the writing
process.”
Rendell’s advice to young writers is to write
with style. 
“It doesn't matter
what kind of book you write - you ought to write it well and with some kind of
style and elegance,” she said. “As for
me, I don't know what I would do if I didn't write.”
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