The Chimney Sweeper’s Boy
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
The Chimney Sweeper’s Boy
Buy for $25.79
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jenny Sterlin
-
By:
-
Barbara Vine
About this listen
Writing as Barbara Vine, award-winning mystery author Ruth Rendell outshines even her own brilliant reputation for psychological intrigue. The Chimney Sweeper’s Boy is mesmerizing as it probes the dark recesses of the psyche. Vine lures you, clue by clue, into a labyrinth of sexuality, love, and shame. When literary celebrity Gerald Candless suddenly dies, the beautiful façade he has carefully created begins to crumble. Behind the vision of the happy family on the English seashore lie Candless’ inexplicable cruelty toward his wife, his manic devotion to his daughters, and the mysterious sources of his fiction. To assuage her grief, his loving daughter Sarah begins a memoir project. But it soon becomes an obsessive search for identity. As Sarah digs deeper and deeper into her father’s secret past, the startling logic of his puzzling behavior is revealed. Narrator Sterlin, with her soft British accent and perfect pacing, coaxes out all the novel’s haunting nuances.
©1998 Kingsmarkham Enterprises, Ltd. (P)1998 Recorded Books, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
-
Asta's Book
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 176
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 141
It is 1905. Asta and her husband, Rasmus, have come to East London from Denmark with their two little boys. With Rasmus constantly away on business, Asta keeps loneliness and isolation at bay by writing a diary. These diaries, published over 70 years later, reveal themselves to be more than a mere journal. For they seem to hold the key to an unsolved murder and to the mystery of a missing child. It falls to Asta's granddaughter, Ann, to unearth the buried secrets of nearly a century before.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Confusing, by it could just have been me
- By Ilana on 10-01-12
By: Barbara Vine
-
A Dark-Adapted Eye
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 288
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 258
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 259
Like most families, they had their secrets...and they hid them under a genteelly respectable veneer. No onlooker would guess that prim Vera Hillyard and her beautiful, adored younger sister, Eden, were locked in a dark and bitter combat over one of those secrets. England in the '50s was not kind to women who erred, so they had to use every means necessary to keep the truth hidden behind closed doors - even murder.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Even better in audio form
- By Jennifer on 08-20-11
By: Barbara Vine
-
King Solomon's Carpet
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Michael Pennington
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 18
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 17
Eccentric Jarvis lives in a crumbling schoolhouse overlooking the tube line, compiling his obsessive history of the Underground. A group of misfits are also drawn towards his strange house: Alice, who has run away from her husband and baby; Tom, the busker who rescues her; truant Jasper who finds his terrifying thrills on the tube; and enigmatic Axel, whose deadly secret casts a shadow over all their lives.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Pat on 04-04-11
By: Barbara Vine
-
No Night Is Too Long
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings, Shelley Thomson, Samuel West
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 83
Tim Cornish thought he'd gotten away with murder. For months after he'd killed his lover off the Alaskan coast, there hadn't been a word. But then the letters started to arrive. It seems that someone knows what Tim has done.... This compelling thriller delivers such a dark picture of romantic love that murder seems its natural mate. Frightening, suspenseful, and deeply unsettling, No Night Is Too Long is a modern crime masterpiece and will be enjoyed by readers of P. D. James and Ian Rankin.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Well done
- By SB on 03-30-22
By: Barbara Vine
-
The Minotaur
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 170
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 80
As soon as Kerstin Kvist arrives at remote, ivy-covered Lydstep Old Hall in Essex, she feels like a character in a gothic novel. A young nurse fresh out of school, Kerstin has been hired for a position with the Cosway family, residents of the Hall for generations. She is soon introduced to her "charge", John Cosway, a 39-year-old man whose strange behavior is vaguely explained by his mother and sisters as part of the madness that runs in the family.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Top notch Barbara Vine
- By Susan B. on 12-12-07
By: Barbara Vine
-
The Brimstone Wedding
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 160
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 125
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 125
Unlike the other residents of Middleton Hall, Stella is elegant, smart and in control. Only Jenny, her care assistant, knows that she harbours a painful secret, and only she can prevent Stella from carrying it to the grave. As the women talk, Jenny pieces together the answers to many questions that arise: Why has she kept possession of a house that her family don’t know about? What happened there that holds the key to a distant tragedy?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing reader elevates book to a higher level
- By Doggy Bird on 10-04-14
By: Barbara Vine
-
Asta's Book
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 176
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 141
It is 1905. Asta and her husband, Rasmus, have come to East London from Denmark with their two little boys. With Rasmus constantly away on business, Asta keeps loneliness and isolation at bay by writing a diary. These diaries, published over 70 years later, reveal themselves to be more than a mere journal. For they seem to hold the key to an unsolved murder and to the mystery of a missing child. It falls to Asta's granddaughter, Ann, to unearth the buried secrets of nearly a century before.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Confusing, by it could just have been me
- By Ilana on 10-01-12
By: Barbara Vine
-
A Dark-Adapted Eye
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 288
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 258
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 259
Like most families, they had their secrets...and they hid them under a genteelly respectable veneer. No onlooker would guess that prim Vera Hillyard and her beautiful, adored younger sister, Eden, were locked in a dark and bitter combat over one of those secrets. England in the '50s was not kind to women who erred, so they had to use every means necessary to keep the truth hidden behind closed doors - even murder.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Even better in audio form
- By Jennifer on 08-20-11
By: Barbara Vine
-
King Solomon's Carpet
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Michael Pennington
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 18
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 17
Eccentric Jarvis lives in a crumbling schoolhouse overlooking the tube line, compiling his obsessive history of the Underground. A group of misfits are also drawn towards his strange house: Alice, who has run away from her husband and baby; Tom, the busker who rescues her; truant Jasper who finds his terrifying thrills on the tube; and enigmatic Axel, whose deadly secret casts a shadow over all their lives.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating
- By Pat on 04-04-11
By: Barbara Vine
-
No Night Is Too Long
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings, Shelley Thomson, Samuel West
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 83
Tim Cornish thought he'd gotten away with murder. For months after he'd killed his lover off the Alaskan coast, there hadn't been a word. But then the letters started to arrive. It seems that someone knows what Tim has done.... This compelling thriller delivers such a dark picture of romantic love that murder seems its natural mate. Frightening, suspenseful, and deeply unsettling, No Night Is Too Long is a modern crime masterpiece and will be enjoyed by readers of P. D. James and Ian Rankin.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Well done
- By SB on 03-30-22
By: Barbara Vine
-
The Minotaur
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 170
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 80
As soon as Kerstin Kvist arrives at remote, ivy-covered Lydstep Old Hall in Essex, she feels like a character in a gothic novel. A young nurse fresh out of school, Kerstin has been hired for a position with the Cosway family, residents of the Hall for generations. She is soon introduced to her "charge", John Cosway, a 39-year-old man whose strange behavior is vaguely explained by his mother and sisters as part of the madness that runs in the family.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Top notch Barbara Vine
- By Susan B. on 12-12-07
By: Barbara Vine
-
The Brimstone Wedding
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 160
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 125
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 125
Unlike the other residents of Middleton Hall, Stella is elegant, smart and in control. Only Jenny, her care assistant, knows that she harbours a painful secret, and only she can prevent Stella from carrying it to the grave. As the women talk, Jenny pieces together the answers to many questions that arise: Why has she kept possession of a house that her family don’t know about? What happened there that holds the key to a distant tragedy?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Amazing reader elevates book to a higher level
- By Doggy Bird on 10-04-14
By: Barbara Vine
-
A Fatal Inversion
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: William Gaminara
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 85
In the long, hot summer of 1976, a group of young people is camping in Wyvis Hall. Adam, Rufus, Shiva, Vivien and Zosie hardly ask why they are there or how they are to live; they scavenge, steal and sell the family heirlooms. Ten years later, the bodies of a woman and child are discovered in the Hall’s animal cemetery. Which woman? And whose child?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Oh my!
- By Jill on 06-15-14
By: Barbara Vine
-
The Blood Doctor
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Robert Powell
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 87
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 73
The First Lord Nanther, expert in blood diseases, particularly the royal disease of Heamophilia, and favoured physician to Queen Victoria, clearly hoped to be the subject of an admiring posthumous biography. But when his great-grandson, Martin Nanther begins to research his life for a biography, the Martin comes to suspect that his great-grandfather’s old records conceal more than they reveal.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
clever, excellent storytelling
- By connie on 07-09-11
By: Barbara Vine
-
Gallowglass
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Dermot Crowley
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 22
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 19
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 20
Sandor is a wonderful storyteller and little Joe is ready to listen. The power of the educated over the simple is horribly clear in this disturbing and unusual relationship. As Sandor’s motivation both for rescuing little Joe and then for weaving his spell of words becomes clear, the darkness surrounding him is too much for them both, and for the beautiful ex-model sequestered in her Suffolk mansion by an obsessive husband.
By: Barbara Vine
-
The Cuckoo's Calling
- By: Robert Galbraith
- Narrated by: Robert Glenister
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37,372
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33,910
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33,844
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he’s living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry - known to her friends as the Cuckoo - famously fell to her death a few months earlier.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Unbelievable debut mystery set in London
- By Tracey on 05-26-13
By: Robert Galbraith
-
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
- By: Stephen Fry, Washington Irving, M.R. James, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 761
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 655
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 655
As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
-
A Sight for Sore Eyes
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 199
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 170
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 170
Having published 45 books, Ruth Rendell is an internationally popular mystery writer. She has won four Gold Dagger and three Edgar awards. She has been presented with the Commander of the British Empire honor, and named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. In A Sight For Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell’s exceptional literary talent shines from each word. Teddy Brex is a handsome young man. Raised by parents who never loved him, he has grown to put his trust in objects.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Reader emits noises that are distracting
- By Teresa on 06-14-12
By: Ruth Rendell
-
The Crocodile Bird
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
Liza is raised in a remote rural hamlet. One evening, Liza’s mother orders her to leave home forever. Paralyzed at having to fend for herself, Liza finds refuge with Sean, a drifter with whom she begins to share the bizarre story of her life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Spooky, fantastic, amazing.
- By Newenglander18 on 12-05-13
By: Ruth Rendell
-
Thirteen Steps Down
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 39
Mix Cellini (which he pronounces with an S rather than a C) is superstitious about the number 13 and has always felt dogged by ill-luck. In the house where he lives, there are 13 steps down to the landing below his rooms. His landlady lives her life almost exclusively through her library, blind to the neglect and decay around her. However, Mix is obsessed with the life of the notorious John Christie, who lived in the same Notting Hill neighbourhood at 10 Rillington Place.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
As always, Rendell writes a very engaging yarn!
- By nina on 05-06-16
By: Ruth Rendell
-
In the Woods
- A Novel
- By: Tana French
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 18,119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 14,896
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 14,870
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours. Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Detection with a Difference
- By Lesley on 07-18-07
By: Tana French
-
The Keys to the Street
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 98
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 78
Mary Jago had donated her own bone marrow to save the life of someone she didn’t know. And this generous act led directly to the bitter break-up of her affair with Alistair. For him, it was as though her beauty had been plundered. But the man whose life she had saved would change Mary’s life in a way she could never have imagined.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Mystery with humor and insight
- By Ida Hagman on 10-02-12
By: Ruth Rendell
-
The Killing Doll
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
No one would have described Manningtree Grove as fashionable. Few would have found it especially interesting. But it was not an unpleasant place to live: the old railway line lay in a valley, and the gardens looked onto it. It was the kind of place where nothing ever happened. Yet it was here that Peter Yearman first sold his soul to the devil....
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
sutch good fantasy story
- By Marianne on 10-03-24
By: Ruth Rendell
-
A Demon in My View
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Julian Glover
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
In a gloomy cellar, the figure of a beautiful, pale woman makes no move when the man advances on her from the shadows, puts his hands around her neck and strangles her. Arthur Johnson is a mild-mannered, shy man who has never known how to talk to women. His resulting loneliness has twisted his yearning for love and respect into a carefully constructed predilection for violence and control.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Totally a Ruth Rendell read
- By Dottie B. on 08-08-12
By: Ruth Rendell
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Grasshopper
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 42
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 40
Young Clodagh Brown loves to climb, especially the giant electrical pylons that form a neat row outside her parents’ home. When this obsession breeds tragedy, her shamed family sends her to London for college. As a respite from insufferable classes, she begins climbing atop the local houses with her unique band of friends. But it is a practice that lands the group in a kidnapping scandal - and leads to a terrifying climax on the rooftops. Grasshopper is a meticulously crafted novel - a sharp and textured thriller....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Creepy - literally
- By Lynn on 04-13-24
By: Barbara Vine
-
Heartstones
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Alexandra O’Karma
- Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 22
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 17
Few mystery writers can match Ruth Rendell’s ability to get inside the dark, tangled psyches of everyday criminals. Rendell takes a single emotion - in this case a sister’s all-consuming jealousy - and shows how even the most unsuspicious people are capable of the worst kind of horrors.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Loved the ending!
- By Maria Ivek on 02-27-25
By: Ruth Rendell
-
The Best Man to Die
- An Inspector Wexford Mystery
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 206
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 174
Who could have suspected that the exciting stag party for the groom would be the prelude to the murder of his close friend Charlie Hatton? And Charlie's death was only the first in a string of puzzling murders involving small-time gangsters, cheating husbands, and loose women. Now Chief Inspector Wexford and his assistant join forces with the groom to track down a killer....
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Classic who-dunnit
- By Kathi on 02-24-13
By: Ruth Rendell
-
Asta's Book
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 176
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 141
It is 1905. Asta and her husband, Rasmus, have come to East London from Denmark with their two little boys. With Rasmus constantly away on business, Asta keeps loneliness and isolation at bay by writing a diary. These diaries, published over 70 years later, reveal themselves to be more than a mere journal. For they seem to hold the key to an unsolved murder and to the mystery of a missing child. It falls to Asta's granddaughter, Ann, to unearth the buried secrets of nearly a century before.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Confusing, by it could just have been me
- By Ilana on 10-01-12
By: Barbara Vine
-
A Sight for Sore Eyes
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 199
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 170
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 170
Having published 45 books, Ruth Rendell is an internationally popular mystery writer. She has won four Gold Dagger and three Edgar awards. She has been presented with the Commander of the British Empire honor, and named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. In A Sight For Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell’s exceptional literary talent shines from each word. Teddy Brex is a handsome young man. Raised by parents who never loved him, he has grown to put his trust in objects.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Reader emits noises that are distracting
- By Teresa on 06-14-12
By: Ruth Rendell
-
A Fatal Inversion
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: William Gaminara
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 85
In the long, hot summer of 1976, a group of young people is camping in Wyvis Hall. Adam, Rufus, Shiva, Vivien and Zosie hardly ask why they are there or how they are to live; they scavenge, steal and sell the family heirlooms. Ten years later, the bodies of a woman and child are discovered in the Hall’s animal cemetery. Which woman? And whose child?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Oh my!
- By Jill on 06-15-14
By: Barbara Vine
-
Grasshopper
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 21 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 42
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 40
Young Clodagh Brown loves to climb, especially the giant electrical pylons that form a neat row outside her parents’ home. When this obsession breeds tragedy, her shamed family sends her to London for college. As a respite from insufferable classes, she begins climbing atop the local houses with her unique band of friends. But it is a practice that lands the group in a kidnapping scandal - and leads to a terrifying climax on the rooftops. Grasshopper is a meticulously crafted novel - a sharp and textured thriller....
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Creepy - literally
- By Lynn on 04-13-24
By: Barbara Vine
-
Heartstones
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Alexandra O’Karma
- Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 22
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 17
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 17
Few mystery writers can match Ruth Rendell’s ability to get inside the dark, tangled psyches of everyday criminals. Rendell takes a single emotion - in this case a sister’s all-consuming jealousy - and shows how even the most unsuspicious people are capable of the worst kind of horrors.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Loved the ending!
- By Maria Ivek on 02-27-25
By: Ruth Rendell
-
The Best Man to Die
- An Inspector Wexford Mystery
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 206
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 172
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 174
Who could have suspected that the exciting stag party for the groom would be the prelude to the murder of his close friend Charlie Hatton? And Charlie's death was only the first in a string of puzzling murders involving small-time gangsters, cheating husbands, and loose women. Now Chief Inspector Wexford and his assistant join forces with the groom to track down a killer....
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Classic who-dunnit
- By Kathi on 02-24-13
By: Ruth Rendell
-
Asta's Book
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 176
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 141
It is 1905. Asta and her husband, Rasmus, have come to East London from Denmark with their two little boys. With Rasmus constantly away on business, Asta keeps loneliness and isolation at bay by writing a diary. These diaries, published over 70 years later, reveal themselves to be more than a mere journal. For they seem to hold the key to an unsolved murder and to the mystery of a missing child. It falls to Asta's granddaughter, Ann, to unearth the buried secrets of nearly a century before.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Confusing, by it could just have been me
- By Ilana on 10-01-12
By: Barbara Vine
-
A Sight for Sore Eyes
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 199
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 170
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 170
Having published 45 books, Ruth Rendell is an internationally popular mystery writer. She has won four Gold Dagger and three Edgar awards. She has been presented with the Commander of the British Empire honor, and named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. In A Sight For Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell’s exceptional literary talent shines from each word. Teddy Brex is a handsome young man. Raised by parents who never loved him, he has grown to put his trust in objects.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Reader emits noises that are distracting
- By Teresa on 06-14-12
By: Ruth Rendell
-
A Fatal Inversion
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: William Gaminara
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 85
In the long, hot summer of 1976, a group of young people is camping in Wyvis Hall. Adam, Rufus, Shiva, Vivien and Zosie hardly ask why they are there or how they are to live; they scavenge, steal and sell the family heirlooms. Ten years later, the bodies of a woman and child are discovered in the Hall’s animal cemetery. Which woman? And whose child?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Oh my!
- By Jill on 06-15-14
By: Barbara Vine
-
Talking to Strange Men
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 31
Safe houses and secret message drops, double crosses and defections - it sounds like the stuff of sophisticated espionage, but these agents are only schoolboys engaged in harmless play. Not that John Creevey knows this. To him, the messages he decodes with painstaking care are the communications of dangerous and evil men, and as he comes face to face with the fact of his beloved wife Jennifer's defection, he begins to see a way to get back at the man she left him for.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful narrator Wonderful writing
- By Shirlie M. Slater on 08-28-19
By: Ruth Rendell
-
No Night Is Too Long
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Alex Jennings, Shelley Thomson, Samuel West
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 83
Tim Cornish thought he'd gotten away with murder. For months after he'd killed his lover off the Alaskan coast, there hadn't been a word. But then the letters started to arrive. It seems that someone knows what Tim has done.... This compelling thriller delivers such a dark picture of romantic love that murder seems its natural mate. Frightening, suspenseful, and deeply unsettling, No Night Is Too Long is a modern crime masterpiece and will be enjoyed by readers of P. D. James and Ian Rankin.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Well done
- By SB on 03-30-22
By: Barbara Vine
-
The Crocodile Bird
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Jill Tanner
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
Liza is raised in a remote rural hamlet. One evening, Liza’s mother orders her to leave home forever. Paralyzed at having to fend for herself, Liza finds refuge with Sean, a drifter with whom she begins to share the bizarre story of her life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Spooky, fantastic, amazing.
- By Newenglander18 on 12-05-13
By: Ruth Rendell
-
The Stranger Diaries
- By: Elly Griffiths
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott, Esther Wane, Sarah Feathers, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,964
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,674
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2,659
Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, “The Stranger”, left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the story lines of her favorite literature.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good! But...
- By Elle Reich on 04-22-19
By: Elly Griffiths
-
Secret Sister
- By: Sarah A. Denzil
- Narrated by: Jessica Gunning, Sacha Dhawan, Joanne Froggatt, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,980
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,964
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,964
On the Yorkshire moors, celebrated author Faye Mathis is coming to terms with her early-onset dementia. She has begun writing her memoir, committing her past to paper before her memory betrays her. But her family history is full of gaps, bloodlines cut short, family ties all ending in knots. When a picture of Faye – dirty and dishevelled, stumbling alone on the moors – goes viral, her life is thrown into chaos. Faye is convinced she is not that person in the photograph. But how can she be sure?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The music was super annoying!
- By Barbara on 05-07-25
By: Sarah A. Denzil
-
Sugarland
- By: Tom Fontana
- Narrated by: Dean Winters, Mark Ryder, Fern Cozine, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,190
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,176
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,176
Sometimes the darkest mysteries are homegrown. When Zephyr Nelson returns home to look after her ailing mother, she discovers that her younger brother, Cotter, has become obsessed with a malevolent influencer on a mysterious voice app. Just as a series of puzzling deaths begin plaguing their small town of Sugarland. With the help of her college best friend and occasional lover, Teddy, Zephyr unravels truths about Sugarland that are impossible for her to accept ...
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Decent thriller, but too much weird sexual stuff
- By Aimee Safford on 04-03-25
By: Tom Fontana
Barbara Vine develops character as well as any author I know, and this novel is no exception. The mother and two daughters are fascinating people whose lives have been shaped around the somewhat bizarre personality of this strange and brilliant man, and there are no easy explanations for anything.
At the heart of a mystery
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Another twisted tale
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Insightful and moving tale of unforeseen consequences and constrained lives
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great Book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
One of my Top 20 books
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.