Ruth Rendell's books are not only whodunits but whydunits, uncovering the motive roots of murder

Ruth Rendell is certainly one of the foremost of our writers of crime fiction... She’s using the detective story to say things she thinks are important

Ruth Rendell is surely one of the greatest novelists presently at work in our language. The extraordinary depth and accuracy of her psychological portraits is matched only by the rare inventiveness of her storytelling

Once her characters start twisting on every-tightening tracks, their fates are brilliantly sealed, and it’s never obvouis who’ll be the victim or the culprit. Rendell’s greatest trick is making an unforeseen outcome feel predestined

Ruth Rendell is not only the finest crime novelist there is, but one of the finest novelists writing in the English language

This is a crafted, talented display.

Hadley is a writer of exceptional intelligence and skill Only Alice Munro and Colm Toibin, among all the working short story writers I’m aware of, are so adept at portraying whole lives in a few thousand words. With Married Love, Hadley joins their company as one of the most clear-sighted chroniclers of contemporary emotional journeys

Tessa Hadley writes like a dream, the prose precise, but funny, too

These stories are shored up with sentences and paragraphs that demand immediate re-reading for their cleverness and warmth…This party is well worth attending

This collection shows a writer quietly growing in style, perception and grace. She conveys to the reader that rare ability to see completely into someone else’s head

Accomplished ... confident

The ghost of Katherine Mansfield hovers lightly over these deceptively delicate snapshots which zero in on the much maligned territory of the domestic and make it new and vital again