Ruth Rendell

It was better than a hotel, this anonymous room on a secluded side street of a small country town. No register to sign, no questions asked, and for five bucks a man could have three hours of undisturbed, illicit lovemaking.Then one evening a man with a knife turned the love nest into a death chamber. The carpet was …

Vanity Dies Hard is a novel by British writer Ruth Rendell, published in 1966.