Kissing The Gunner's Daughter: an engrossing and absorbing Wexford mystery from the award-winning queen of crime, Ruth Rendell

Description

The fifteenth book in the bestselling Detective Chief Inspector Wexford series, from the author of classic detective fiction and gripping psychological thrillers including End in Tears and Thirteen Steps Down. It doesn't have to be Friday the thirteenth... Completely captivating, this is a spine-tingling page-turner of a mystery from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell. Perfect for fans of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon. 'The most brilliant mystery novelist' -- Patricia Cornwell 'Psychologically acute and extremely disturbing, Ruth Rendell's work is outstanding' -- The Times 'Stark, edgy and punchy' -- ***** Reader review 'This book kept me awake for nights on end!' -- ***** Reader review 'I just could not put it down' -- ***** Reader review 'Smashing' -- ***** Reader review ********************************************************************************************* The thirteenth of May is famously the unluckiest day of the year. Sergeant Caleb Martin of Kingsmarkham CID had no idea just how terminally unlucky it would prove, as he embarked upon his last day on earth... Ten months later, Wexford is confronted with a murder scene of horrific brutality. At first the bloodbath at Tancred House looks like the desperate work of a burglar panicked into murder. The sole survivor of the massacre, seventeen-year-old Daisy Flory, remembers the events imperfectly, and her confused account of the fatal night seems to confirm this theory. But more and more, Chief Inspector Wexford is convinced that the crime lies closer to home, and that it has sinister links to the murder of Sergeant Martin...

Ruth Rendell was an exceptional crime writer, and will be remembered as a legend in her own lifetime. Her groundbreaking debut novel, From Doon With Death, was first published in 1964 and introduced the reader to her enduring and popular detective, Inspector Reginald Wexford, who went on to feature in twenty-four of her subsequent novels. With worldwide sales of approximately 20 million copies, Rendell was a regular Sunday Times bestseller. Her sixty bestselling novels include police procedurals, some of which have been successfully adapted for TV, stand-alone psychological mysteries, and a third strand of crime novels under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Very much abreast of her times, the Wexford books in particular often engaged with social or political issues close to her heart. Rendell won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for 1976's best crime novel with A Demon in My View, a Gold Dagger award for Live Flesh in 1986, and the Sunday Times Literary Award in 1990. In 2013 she was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer. Ruth Rendell died in May 2015. Her final novel, Dark Corners, was published in October 2015.

A very great pleasure ... Beyond praise, completely compelling - will delight all Wexford's admirers -- Allan Massie * Scotsman * Psychologically acute and extremely disturbing, Ruth Rendell's work is outstanding * The Times * The most brilliant mystery novelist of our time * Patricia Cornwell *