A Sleeping Life

An expensive leather wallet is the only clue to the death of a woman whose baby is found on the outskirts of Kingsmarkham and whose past is completely dark

Rhoda Comfrey's death seemed unremarkable; the real mystery was her life.

In A Sleeping Life, master mystery writer Ruth Rendell unveils an elaborate web of lies and deception painstakingly maintained by a troubled soul. A wallet found in Comfrey's handbag leads Inspector Wexford to Mr. Grenville West, a writer whose plots revel in the blood, thunder, and passion of dramas of old; whose current whereabouts are unclear; and whose curious secretary -- the plain Polly Flinders -- provides the Inspector with more questions than answers. And when a second Grenville West comes to light, Wexford faces a dizzying array of possible scenarios -- and suspects -- behind the Comfrey murder. Brilliantly entertaining, exceptionally well-written, A Sleeping Life evokes the dark realities, half-truths, and flights of fancy that constitute a life.