Death Ruth Rendell, the last lady of the English detective – Le Figaro

DISAPPEARANCE – The British bestselling author of psychological thrillers, where she showed an implacable observer of contemporary English society, died Saturday in London at the age 85 years. She had been admitted to emergency January 15, 2015

The English detective novel will therefore be lost within two months of its queens. Phyllis Dorothy James say PDJames on 27 November, and today May 2, 2015 Ruth Rendell. Both were in the House of Lords. And had ruled the British thriller for half a century.

Born February 17, 1930 in London parents teachers, one English, the other born in Sweden and raised in Denmark, Barbara Ruth knew Grasemann Northern Europe. She also spoke Swedish and Danish. Since childhood, this great reader has got used to write stories. What she did as a journalist for the local cabbage leaf, Chigwell Times.

At 20, she married Don Rendell whom she divorced in 1975 before marrying again in 1977 to share his life until the death of this charming man in 1999. He must have seen in their home of the Essex countryside, not far from Constable Country, to understand how the disappearance of small discreet but effective man, taking care of everything in the house to let Ruth write, could be difficult to overcome. She sold her cottage to settle in Maida Vale, North London.

It was in 1964 that the career of novelist Ruth Rendell An intruder begins with love, which marks the birth of Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford, which was the career of novelist what Adam Dalgliesh was that of PDJames. His fidelity to Wexford, inspired by the character she will tell herself, never contradict themselves over the years and to date there are no fewer than 25 titles in his bibliography. Besides these novels police procedure a gratifying classicism, Rendell has published 28 titles under the name of Ruth Rendell and 14 under the pseudonym Barbara Vine.

Its successive editors have preferred France, with two exceptions, and for commercial reasons without doubt, do not use this nickname and any published under the name of Ruth Rendell. Unlike the series of Wexford, these books were regarded by the author as “criminals psychological novels.” Rendell dissected to the various facets of crime, sexual perversions, family secrets with an impressive coldness that the lady sometimes reminiscent of a bird of prey. Nothing of through English society, its evolution, escaped the sharp eye of Rendell. Committed to the fight against illiteracy and the protection of the rights of women and children, the novelist whose books were translated into 32 languages, received the most major awards of crime fiction. Edgar in 1975 for the new remarkable, Torn Curtain, four Gold Dagger Awards, and supreme consecration, she was crowned Grand Master in 1997 by the highest authority of the genre, the Mystery Writers of America.

With these distinctions grateful profession, add two decorations which are not than honorary: Rendell was elevated to Commander of the British Empire in 1996 and rank Pair to life the following year with the status of Baroness Rendell of Babergh. This rather remarkable work which knew little failures was often adapted for television and film.

Wexford, with George Baxter in the title role, held for thirteen years, from 1987 to 2000, under the title The Ruth Rendell Mysteries . In film, she found in Claude Chabrol’s a big fan of his work. He adapted in 1995 A Judgement in Stone became Ceremony with Sandrine Bonnaire. Then, ten years later, he directed The Bridesmaid The Bridesmaid post. In 2001, it was the turn of Claude Miller to adapt The Tree of Hands under the title Alias ​​ Betty . Recently, two other French, François Ozon with A new friend and Pascal Thomas with La Maison du Lys tabby , showed the visual qualities of the universe of this great lady loved cats at the death of the last of his, she refused to resume.

PDJames did everything to encourage him to break his loneliness with cats. The topic of conversation was tell some columnists that the two queens of crime found themselves all afternoon to not sittings of the House of Lords but the “House of Cats” … In France, the books were successively Rendell published Mask, Calmann-Levy and editions of the Two Lands which was published on January 28, A life so convenient , one of its latest titles.