The New Girl Friend and Other Stories of Suspense — Ruth Rendell

In her deft dramatization of the way ordinary lives can take the most extraordinary and eventful twists, Ruth Rendell has proved herself again and again one of our most accomplished and literate suspense writers. These eleven short and shocking tales display to perfection her talents to entertain and spook us, beginning with the Edgar Award-winning title tale, in which a secret tryst turns out to hold many more secrets than either guilty party suspected. In another, an unprepossessing house proves to be less of a bargain than its new owners thought when its unseemly past reaches unexpectedly into their present. In the chilling "Loopy" the boundaries between illusion and reality, and between human and animal, grow gruesomely confused for a young actor, while in the engaging final tale, a dissatisfied writer finds an odd byway in the road to happily-ever-after.

A premier crop for a quick chill or thrill before lunch or after midnight - the distilled essence of Ruth Rendell's superior suspense craft.