Ruth Rendell, best-selling crime writer, dies aged 85
Rendell was hospitalised in January after suffering a serious stroke
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Ruth Rendell, the best-selling crime novelist, has died aged 85.
The celebrated author of novels including Chief Inspector Wexford was hospitalised in January after she suffered a serious stroke.
Her publisher Hutchinson confirmed her death in a statement on Saturday.
Their statement said: “It is with great sadness that the family of author Ruth Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, announce that she passed away in London at 8am on Saturday 2 May, aged 85. The family have requested privacy at this time."
It said it was "devastated at the loss of one of our best-loved authors".
Rendell was made a Labour life peer in 1997. The Labour leader Ed Miliband paid tribute to her as "an outstanding and hugely popular figure in British literature [who] served in the House of Lords with great loyalty & passion".
Rendell grew up in east London and began her career as a journalist on a a local paper, where she was eventually forced to resign after reporting on a local sports club's dinner without actually attending, meaning she missed the after-dinner speaker drop dead in the middle of his speech.
Rendell's most recent publication was The Girl Next Door, which came out last year along with a 50th anniversary edition of her debut novel, From Doon With Death.
She penned more than 60 chart-topping books under her own name and the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Her works were translated into more than 20 languages and often adapted for television.
Her novels centered on crime while also touching on issues surrounding homosexuality, mental health and politics, setting her aside from her contemporaries.
The success of her books brought with it huge financial reward and she is said to have donated hundreds of thousands to charity every year, telling one journalist: "I think that people who make a lot of money - and I do - should certainly give a considerable amount of it away."
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit novelist Jeanette Winterson once described her as being like "the Good Mother to me" after she gave her somewhere to stay while she was struggling in the early days of her career.
Her final novel, Dark Corners, will be published in October.
Additional reporting by PA
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