The Bridesmaid / To Fear A Painted Devil [Paperback]

Two Ruth Rendell novels in one omnibus — both centered on obsession, both unsettling in different ways. *The Bridesmaid* follows Philip, a man whose fixation on a beautiful stranger spirals into something darker when she makes a chilling request. It's Rendell at her psychological thriller best: quiet dread, middle-class surfaces cracking, desire twisted into something monstrous. *To Fear A Painted Devil* is her debut, a small-town mystery where gossip, secrets, and a suspicious death unravel the veneer of respectability in an English village. The prose is sharp, the characters flawed and human, and the tension builds with surgical precision. Rendell doesn't just write crime — she writes about the dangerous spaces between people. Perfect for readers who like their suspense slow-burning and character-driven, or anyone who wants to see why Rendell is one of the best at blending literary fiction with psychological menace.