FAT, middle-aged detective Vera Stanhope seems an unlikely heroine. But the dishevelled sleuth has won millions of fans through Ann Cleeves’ gritty crime thrillers, and the TV adaptation starring Brenda Blethyn.

Crime writer Ruth Rendell is in a critical but stable condition after suffering a stroke.

Crime writer Ruth Rendell is in a critical but stable condition after suffering a stroke, her publisher said today.

At 83, Ruth Rendell is still writing a novel a year and is as reluctant to slip into retirement as her long-time hero, former Chief Inspector Wexford, she tells Hannah Stephenson