A Dark-Adapted Eye, the Chimney Sweeper's Boy, and the Brimstone Wedding

Three spellbinders from a New York Times* –bestselling Edgar Award winner, “unequivocally the most brilliant mystery writer of our time” (Patricia Cornwell).*

This trio of Barbara Vine mysteries provides undisputable evidence that “no one surpasses Ruth Rendell when it comes to stories of obsession, instability, and malignant coincidence” (Stephen King).

A Dark-Adapted Eye : Faith Severn never understood why her respectable aunt Vera snapped and murdered her own beloved sister. But thirty years after Vera is condemned and hanged, a true crime writer’s new investigation into the case is finally allowing Faith to see her family’s unspeakable history and its bygone tragedy in a chilling new light. An Edgar Award winner, this “rich, beautifully crafted novel” (P. D. James) is Ruth Rendell “at her formidable best” ( The New York Times Book Review ).

The Chimney Sweeper’s Boy : When celebrated author Gerald Candless dies at his clifftop home in Devon, his daughter Sarah is commissioned to write his admiring biography—only to discover her father’s entire life was a lie. Now, Sarah fears that understanding all her father has hidden—and why—is the last thing she wants. A novel “about the power of taboos, transgressions, guilts, deceptions, horrors, [and] atonements” ( Independent ) from “the best mystery writer in the English-speaking world” ( Time ).

The Brimstone Wedding : Mired in a loveless marriage and a troubled affair, Jenny Warner has only Stella Newland to confide in. A patient at the English nursing home where Jenny works, Stella is open to hearing all about Jenny’s life. Stella understands; she has secrets too. When she gives Jenny the key to her house, it unlocks a mystery about the horrifying consequences of love—and Stella is drawn into a “dark, hypnotic story of romantic obsession” ( The New York Times Book Review ).