Demons In Her View: The Ruth Rendell Information Site

Short Story Guide

The list has been sorted alphabetically by the title used in Rendell's own short story collections (which is often different to the title of first publication for the earlier stories). A simpler listing of the contents of each Rendell short story collection can be found here. A handful of stories ('A Drop Too Much', 'The Haunting Of Shawley Rectory', 'In The Time Of His Prosperity', 'The Irony Of Hate' and 'The Long Corridor Of Time') have not yet been included in any of Rendell's own collections.

Pedantic note: Rendell's first four volumes of short stories (The Fallen Curtain, Means Of Evil, The Fever Tree and The New Girl Friend were collated in Collected Short Stories in 1987. I have not included this volume in the listings of additional anthologies below. I have yet to personally confirm most of the Ellery Queen publication dates, and it's quite possible that some of the later stories appeared first in other publications before EQ.

Achilles Heel
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (1978, date TBC)
Original title: Inspector Wexford On Holiday
Collected in: Means Of Evil And Other Stories (1979)
Also features in:
Television adaptation: 1991 (IMDB)
Comments: A Wexford story.

Almost Human
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (1975)
Collected in: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Also features in:
Comments: -

An Outside Interest
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (January 27 1982)
Original title: The Man Who Frightened Women
Collected in: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Also features in:
Comments: -

An Unwanted Woman
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (December 1990)
Original title:
Collected in:
Also features in: The Copper Peacock And Other Stories (1991)
Television adaptation: 1992 (IMDB) (combined with 'Old Wives' Tales')
Comments: A Wexford story.

The Astronomical Scarf
First publication: Women On The Case, ed. Sara Paretsky. Delacorte, 1996.
Collected in: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Also features in:
Television adaptation:
Comments: -

A Bad Heart
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (1973)
Original title: Trapped
Collected in: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Also features in:
Television adaptation:
Comments: -

The Beach Butler
First publication: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Collected in: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (February 2001)
Journey To The Sea, ed. Sarah Brown, Gil McNeil and Hugo Tagholm. London, Ebury Press, 2005
Comments: In an introductory note for the story in Journey To The Sea, Rendell writes: "The seaside resort in this story came out of my imagination. It's supposed to be somewhere on the coast of South America where the gulf between rich and poor is wide. I have never been there but I have been to Hawaii and it was on a beach there that I saw hotel servants combing the sands for lost jewellery and saw too the woman who went swimming in a full panoply of diamonds. The story is a sad one because it shows how privation drives the poor to crime and that love is not always worth the price a woman may be asked to pay for it."

Blood Lines
First publication: TBC
Original title: The Mouse In The Corner
Collected in: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (May 1993)
Television adaptation: 1992 (IMDB) (as The Mouse In The Corner)
Comments: A Wexford story. Original source of publication not known, but it was probably not EQ, as the TV adaptation came out earlier and the story itself must have preceded that.

Bribery And Corruption
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, 1978
Original title: Dinner At Potters
Collected in: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Also features in:
Television adaptation: 1997 (IMDB)
Comments: -

Burning End
First publication: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Collected in: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (December 1995)
Comments: -

The Carer
First publication: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Collected in: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (January 1996)
Comments: -

A Case Of Coincidence
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (June 30 1980)
Collected in: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Also features in:
Television adaptation: 1996 (IMDB
Comments: -

Catamount
First publication: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Collected in: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (April 2001)
Comments: -

The Clinging Woman
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (1974)
Collected in: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Also features in:
Comments: -

Clothes
First publication: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Collected in: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (February 1996)
Comments: -

Computer Seance
First publication: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Collected in: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (April 2001)
Comments: -

The Convolvulus Clock
First publication:
Original title:
Collected in: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The Copper Peacock
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (June 1989)
Collected in: The Copper Peacock And Other Stories (1991)
Also features in:
Comments: Described as a 'novelette' in some citation lists, but not really novella length by Rendell's standards.

A Dark Blue Perfume
First publication: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Collected in: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (June 1986)
Television adaptation: 1997 (IMDB)
Comments: -

Divided We Stand
First publication: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Collected in: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The Double
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (December 1975)
Original title: Meeting In The Park
Collected in: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Also features in:
Television adaptation: 1997 (IMDB)
Comments: -

The Dreadful Day Of Judgement
First publication: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Collected in: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (December 1984)
Comments: -

A Drop Too Much
First publication: Winter's Crimes 7 (1975)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (August 1976)
Murders For The Fireside: The Best Of Winter's Crimes, ed. Maxim Jakubowski. London, Pan, 1992
Masters Of Suspense ed. Ellery Queen and Eleanor Sullivan. Galahad Books, 1992
Comments: Not included in any Rendell story collection. Unusually, the story is set in the Kingsmarkham area, the only non-Wexford work by Rendell to refer to her most famous fictional location.

Dying Happy
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (November 1987)
Collected in: The Copper Peacock And Other Stories (1991)
Also features in:
Comments: -

Expectations
First publication: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Original title:
Collected in: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (March 1996)
Comments: -

Fair Exchange
First publication: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Collected in: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (February 2001)
Comments: -

The Fall Of A Coin
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (June 1975)
Collected in: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The Fallen Curtain
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (August 1974)
Collected in: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Also features in:
Television adaptation: 1999 (IMDB)
Comments: This story won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1974 -- Rendell's first major award.

Father's Day
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (August 1984)
Collected in: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Also features in:
Comments: -

Fen Hall
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (March 1985)
Collected in: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The Fever Tree
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (June 1982)
Collected in: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The Fish-Sitter
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (June 1990)
Collected in: The Copper Peacock And Other Stories (1991)
Also features in:
Comments: -

Front Seat
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (December 1978)
Original title: Truth Will Out
Collected in: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Also features in:
Television adaptation: 1997 (IMDB)
Comments: -

Ginger And The Kingsmarkham Chalk Circle
First publication: Means Of Evil And Other Stories
Collected in: Means Of Evil And Other Stories (1979)
Also features in:
Ginger And The Kingsmarkham Chalk Circle (along with 'May And June').
Television adaptation: 1988 (IMDB) (as No Crying He Makes)
Comments: A Wexford story. The standalone version was produced during the mid-1990s vogue for miniature books.

A Glowing Future
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (September 1977)
Original title: A Present For Patricia
Collected in: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The Green Road To Quephanda
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (January 1 1981)
Original title: The Green Road
Collected in: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Also features in:
Comments: There is a resemblance between the railway path described here and one mentioned by Rendell in her political tract Undermining The Central Line (co-authored with Colin Ward): "We came to the restored Hadleigh Station through the nature reserve created out of the old line from Hadleigh that was once called the Railway Walk."

Hare's House
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (April 1984)
Collected in: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The Haunting Of Shawley Rectory
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (December 17 1979)
Also features in: The Virago Book Of Ghost Stories: The Twentieth Century: Volume Two, ed. Richard Dalby. London, Virago (1991)
Comments: Not included in any Rendell story collection. Some elements of the plot mechanism are similar to 'The Long Corridor Of Time' (though the stories are quite distinct).

Heartstones (novella)
First publication: Fiction Magazine (as a three-part serial)
Collected in: Heartstones (1987)
Television adaptation: 1996 (IMDB)
Comments: This novella was also published in a special educational edition, with an introduction by Rendell, by Longman in 1990.

High Mysterious Union (novella)
First publication: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Collected in: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Also features in:
Comments: -

In All Honesty
First publication: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Collected in: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (November 1995)
Comments: -

In The Time Of His Prosperity
First publication: The Penguin Collection, 1996
Collected in: The Penguin Collection, 1996
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (August 2005)
Comments: This is the only short story published under Rendell's pseudonym of Barbara Vine.

The Irony Of Hate
First publication: Winter's Crimes 9, ed. George Hardinge. London, Macmillan, 1977
Alternative title: Born Victim
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (1978)
A Moment On The Edge: 100 Years Of Crime Stories By Women, ed. Elizabeth George. New York, Harper Collins, 2004
Comments: Not included in any Rendell story collection. The alternative title appears in some citation lists, but I haven't yet encountered the story published under this name.

Lizzie's Lover
First publication: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Collected in: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (December 1995)
Comments: -

The Long Corridor Of Time
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (February 1974)
Also features in: Ladies Of The Gothics: Tales Of Romance And Terror By The Gentle Sex, ed. Seon Manley & Gogo Lewis. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1975
Comments: Not included in any Rendell story collection. An early demonstration of Rendell's facility with Victorian-era writing, which would later be exploited to good effect in some of the Barbara Vine novels.

Long Live The Queen
First publication: The Copper Peacock And Other Stories (1991)
Collected in: The Copper Peacock And Other Stories (1991)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (July 1991)
Comments: -

Loopy
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (February 1983)
Collected in: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The Man Who Was The God Of Love
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (March 1993)
Collected in: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Also features in:
Comments: -

May And June
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (February 1977)
Original title: The Strong And The Weak
Collected in: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Also features in:
Television adaptation: 1997 (IMDB)
Comments: -

Means Of Evil
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (November 1977)
Original title: The Case Of The Shaggy Caps
Collected in: Means Of Evil And Other Stories (1979)
Also features in: Murder Most Delectable: Savory Tales of Culinary Crimes ed. Martin H. Greenberg. Gramercy, 2004
Television adaptation: (IMDB)
Comments: A Wexford story. Some editions of Means Of Evil incorrectly give the original title as 'The Case Of Shaggy Case'. The story has occasionally been described as a 'novelette', but isn't notably different in length or style to other Wexford short stories of the period, or as long as some of the subsequent novellas.

Mother's Help
First publication:
Original title:
Collected in: The Copper Peacock And Other Stories (1991)
Also features in:
Comments: -

Myth
First publication: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Collected in: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (March 2001)
Comments: This story was not included in the US edition of Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories.

A Needle For The Devil
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (November 3 1980)
Collected in: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The New Girl Friend
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (August 1983)
Collected in: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Also features in:
Comments: This story won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1974.

Old Wives' Tales
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (October 1979)
Alternative title: Clutching At Straws
Collected in: Means Of Evil And Other Stories (1979)
Also features in: The Orion Book Of Murder, ed. Peter Haining. London, Orion, 1996 (as 'Clutching At Straws').
Television adaptation: Television adaptation: 1992 (IMDB) (combined with 'An Unwanted Woman' and broadcast under that title)
Comments: A Wexford story. The story has occasionally been described as a 'novelette', but isn't notably different in length or style to other Wexford short stories of the period, or as long as some of the subsequent novellas.

The Orchard Walls
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (May 1985)
Collected in: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Also features in:
Television adaptation: 1998 (IMDB)
Comments: Elements of the characterisation and setting from this story recur in the first Barbara Vine novel, A Dark-Adapted Eye.

Paintbox Place
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (March 10 1980)
Original title: The Paintbox Houses
Collected in: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Also features in:
Comments: -

A Pair Of Yellow Lilies
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (April 1989)
Collected in: The Copper Peacock And Other Stories (1991)
Also features in:
Comments: -

Paperwork
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (August 1990)
Collected in: The Copper Peacock And Other Stories (1991)
Also features in:
Comments: -

People Don't Do Such Things
First publication: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Collected in: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Also features in:
Television adaptation: 1979 (IMDB)
Comments: Adapted as part of the Tales Of The Unexpected series, based originally on the short stories of Roald Dahl before other sources were brought in. The first of Rendell's shorts to be adapted for television (the production date is unclear, but even if it came at the end of the series' run it would have beaten No Crying He Makes to air).

Piranha To Scurfy (novella)
First publication: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Collected in: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (September-October 2001)
Comments: -

The Professional
First publication: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Collected in: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (May 2001)
Comments: -

Shreds And Slivers
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (November 1994)
Collected in: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The Strawberry Tree (novella)
First publication: Unguarded Hours (1990, paired with Helen Simpson's Flesh And Grass)
Collected in: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Television adaptation: 1996 (IMDB)
Comments: The original publication was supposed to be the first volume in a series of Unguarded Hours titles. The text notes: "The Strawberry Tree and Flesh And Grass are the first novellas to be published within a wider exploration of suspense fiction. Under the inspiration and guidance, and using the fine judgement of the Consultant Editor Ruth Rendell, we have invited writers to explore, within the demanding form of the short novel or novella, the ways in which suspense can be explored as a central guiding element in their fiction." However, no further volumes were published.

Thornapple (novella)
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (February 25 1981)
Original title: The Boy Who Collected Poison
Collected in: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Also features in: Travelman Short Stories (Travelman Crime No 2)
Television adaptation: 1997 (IMDB)
Comments: The Travelman edition is printed on a single double-sided sheet which folds to around half the width of an A5 sheet, and is designed for easy portability whilst still being able to be read like a book.

Unacceptable Levels
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (March 1995)
Collected in: Blood Lines: Long And Short Stories (1995)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The Venus Fly Trap
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (January 1973)
Original title: Venus's Flytrap
Collected in: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Also features in:
Comments: Rendell's first published short story.

The Vinegar Mother
First publication: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Collected in: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Also features in:
Comments: -

Walter's Leg
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (January 2000)
Collected in: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Also features in:
Comments: -

Weeds
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (March 1989)
Collected in: The Copper Peacock And Other Stories (1991)
Also features in:
Comments: -

When The Wedding Was Over
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (July 1979)
Original title: Inspector Wexford And The Winchurch Affair
Collected in: Means Of Evil And Other Stories (1979)
Also features in:
Television adaptation:
Comments: A Wexford story. The original title isn't listed in the credits for Means Of Evil (which does list alternates for 'Achilles Heel' and 'Means of Evil'), but appears in some citation lists.

The Whistler
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (July 1985)
Collected in: The New Girl Friend And Other Stories (1985)
Also features in:
Comments: -

The Wink
First publication: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Collected in: Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories (2000)
Also features in: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (February 2001)
Comments: -

The Wrong Category
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (date TBC)
Original title: On The Path
Collected in: The Fever Tree And Other Stories (1982)
Also features in:
Comments: -

You Can't Be Too Careful
First publication: Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (1976)
Collected in: The Fallen Curtain And Other Stories (1976)
Also features in:
Television adaptation: 1998 (IMDB)
Comments: -

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