As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing

Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end

She is the peer of Kingsley Amis and Muriel Spark. The Girl Next Door is as great a novel as Stanley and the Women or Memento Mori . . . a joy to read. Rendell's novels establish a sense of order that is deeply satisfying.

Fifty years on, the girl from Essex has become the unchallenged crime queen of suburbia. Her powers of observation are as acute as ever, and she writes about old age with as much gusto as any of the subjects she has tackled in her long career.

This book is extraordinarily courageous, a demonstration that fiction can take us where reportage dares not go.

Rendell gives an acutely observed portrayal of old age through her characters’ regrets, losses and bewilderment . . . Difficult themes such as death, usually dressed up in mystery in a crime novel are, thanks to these elderly protagonists, real, hard-hitting and constant.

That The Girl Next Door works as a standalone novel is partly attributable to Rendell’s deftness in parrying comparisons with her best-known creation. It also unravels a satisfying mystery, stretching tentacles into the past.

An excellent analysis of re-found youth, this novel shows how people can surprise themselves even in their winter years.

In this engaging novel, the portraits of elderly people living today and their preoccupations are presented with almost sociological precision, and scattered throughout are acute observations about changing language and manners.

Nobody does the suburbs like Ruth Rendell: in her expert hands they exert a morbid fascination. Behind the immaculate exteriors lurks a world of unhappiness and deceit – and at times murder. An excellent read.

Vintage Ruth Rendell

This amazing book is like Gone Girl meets Gossip Girl - it's gonna be HUGE!

Clever… razor-sharp

A brilliant read

Scalpel sharp, plenty of twists and a feisty narrator, you won’t be able to put it down

Clever, original, and darkly witty, Dear Daughter’s many twists will keep you on your toes as you fall under the spell of its unapologetic, whip-smart narrator

Extremely well-written…a brilliant début…outstanding

What a devilish, delightful treat of a novel! Crackling with wit and shining with originality, Dear Daughter is the kind of whirlwind mystery that will keep you hooked—and guessing—until the very end

The writing is sharp as a tack, the heroine feisty and the mystery will keep you guessing until the very last page – a corker

A terrific page-turner...hilarious... Finally, a thriller that deserves the tag 'the new Gone Girl'

I couldn't put it down!

Elizabeth Little has created a fast-reading mystery rich in dialogue, demonstrating a special talent for great one-liners and crisp observation, and has given her protagonist enough sass and wit to complement the half-wits she has to tolerate on a daily basis as she tries to recover her memory of past events and solve a mystery where she just might be the killer

Smart, darkly funny and packed with plot twists… Heroine Janie is an engaging and complex character… An enjoyable romp of a read which is incredibly difficult to put down

Janie Jenkins [is] a snide, sharp-tongued and sparky LA bitch channeling her inner Paris Hilton

Captivating… Sharp and dramatic – we couldn’t put it down!

Original and full of twists

[Janie’s] wit is bitter and devastating, her put-downs Pulitzer-worthy

Fresh and fizzing and original, this is such an impressive debut

a sassy firecracker of a crime novel

What could be standard police procedural stands out for its excellent character work and the timely way it deals with hot-button political topics dominating the headlines

The plot is tight, the anger righteous but not worthy, and the action thrilling. Happily she has a new novel out next year

Gripping…Excellent book.

A wonderfully atmospheric novel with a gripping narrative.

Precise, intense, haunting and poetic… This is a subtle exploration of suffering and resilience and, for once, the hype matches the talent.

Broodingly lyrical… Spellbinding.

Wyld uses language that is purely gorgeous, even – perhaps especially – when underscoring dread.

Impressive.

A tough and tender take on suffering and redemption.

Suspenseful and melancholy… Masterful

A compelling, tense novel that lingers with the reader long after it has been finished

With beautiful writing, it is a compelling, rather dark story which makes you laugh and cry

I am obsessed with it, and with what Wyld is going to do next