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  • Vanity Dies Hard

  • By: Ruth Rendell
  • Narrated by: Eva Haddon
  • Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (342 ratings)
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Vanity Dies Hard cover art

Vanity Dies Hard

By: Ruth Rendell
Narrated by: Eva Haddon
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Summary

Wealthy Alice Whittaker is known for her generosity, and when her friend Nesta vanishes Alice is determined to find her and help her. If that means money, well, Alice has plenty of it. Then the handsome Mr Fielding enters her life, ten years younger than Alice and they marry. But when Alice starts to feel sick -- a virus perhaps, something she just can't shake, her husband seems determined to keep her at home. Is he just being a doting husband who wants his wife to get better? Or is he trying to keep her from finding Nesta? Unwell though she is, Alice can't help asking questions. And the more she learns about Nesta's disappearance, the more certain she becomes that her own life is in peril

©2010 Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Vanity Dies Hard

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved this book

Really enjoyed this. Full of suspense. Keeps you guessing right til the end. Good Narrator too.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Ruth Rendall - 'Vanity dies hard'

Delicately and senitively written. Gripping yet touching at the same time. Could mirror ones own feelings and experience in a beautifully crafted form. A splendid 'sit up at night read'
Thank you madam for a lovely book.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Well read great story

Narrator perfect plot line easy and well paced . I thought it had a well constructed ending as I had no idea how it could end.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A departure from the usual whodunnit.

A Ruth Rendell with no crime was a bit of a disappointment, but the story flowed and held my attention nevertheless.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Ruth Rendell meets Agatha Christie!

I can’t understand the negative reviews of this book. I loved every minute of it. The narration was brilliant and totally appropriate for the storyline. I’ve read many Ruth Rendell novels. She has many dysfunctional characters but this novel was more reminiscent of Agatha Christie at her finest. A twisty, keep you guessing plot,set in the mid sixties with characters similar to Christie’s country village settings. As you would expect from Rendell, the characterisation is drawn in greater depth with exquisite descriptions of places and seasons. In my opinion this is a throughly enjoyable listen which I highly recommend.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A good story.

The narrator is very talented and the story interesting with an ending I did not expect . An enjoyable listen all round.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not like Ruth Rendell

I found it a bit boring at times and struggled to finish it. Not like Ruth Rendell at all

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Rendall at her most gentle.

Rendall at her most gentle. A very satisfying listen, a quite a different side to her writing.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

More Rendell but with a less sinister flavour

A lighter Rendell book but she captures women's concerns very well, worth a read if you prefer your fiction a little less sinister

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

As always, a good story

I am now (thanks to audibles free listens) catching up with Ruth Rendell and thus far, she does not disappoint. Perhaps I will plough through all her books - and there seem to be a lot - before I find one I don't enjoy. Well narrated, beautifully written so there are no complaints from me. Hope that you feel the same.

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1 person found this helpful