Anecdotes

She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1996 and awarded life peerage as Baroness in 1997 for her services to literature.

The Rendells divorced in 1975 but remarried two years later and remained together until Don's death in 1999.

She wrote more than 60 crime novels in a career spanning 50 years. Her best-known character is Inspector Wexford.

She began her writing career as a reporter for an Essex newspaper. She was forced to resign after filing a story about a local sports club dinner that she hadn't attended. Her report failed to mention that the after-dinner speaker had died half-way through the speech.

Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Crime novelist since 1964.

She used her Danish ancestry (on her mother's side) as the basis for her novel "Asta's Book" and her experience as a life peer in the House of Lords as the basis for "The Blood Doctor".

Her alternative pen name "Barbara Vine" comes from her middle name and one of her great grandmothers' maiden names.

Educated at Loughton County High School.