Try an audiobook on us
The Crocodile Bird
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Rottweiler
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Nigel Anthony
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first girl had a bite mark on her neck, but they traced the DNA to her boyfriend. But the tabloids got hold of the story and called the killer 'The Rottweiler' and the name stuck. The latest murder takes place very near Inez Ferry's antique shop in Marylebone. When the Rottweiler’s trinkets start showing up in the shop, suddenly, everyone Inez knows is a suspect, and the killer feels all too close.
-
-
The Rottweiler
- By Susan Random on 28-02-16
-
A Sight for Sore Eyes
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: David Threlfall
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two damaged children: Teddy Brex, whom no-one loved, and so found it easier to relate to objects or things which never let him down; and Francine Hill, who was discovered sitting by the body of her mother, her skirt red with blood. She couldn’t tell the police or her father anything to help track down the killer.... Children grow up in different ways. Teddy became a handsome young man, Francine was beautiful - a sight for sore eyes. But it was death that brought them together.
-
-
A Sight For Sore Eyes
- By Susan Random on 15-02-16
-
The Keys to the Street
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mary Jago had donated her own bone marrow to save the life of someone she didn’t know. And this generous act led directly to the bitter break-up of her affair with Alistair. For him, it was as though her beauty had been plundered. But the man whose life she had saved would change Mary’s life in a way she could never have imagined.
-
-
A Perfect Match
- By Olga the Owl on 15-11-12
-
The Water's Lovely
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Siân Thomas
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The man who had died was Ismay's stepfather, Guy. Nine years on, she and her sister, Heather, still live in the same house in Clapham. But it has been divided into two self-contained flats. Their mother lives upstairs with her sister, Pamela. And the bathroom, where Guy drowned, has disappeared. Ismay works in public relations, and Heather in catering. They get on well. They always have. They never discuss the changes to the house, still less what happened that August day.
-
-
Unsatisfactory
- By Amazon Customer on 18-07-18
-
The Secretary
- By: Renée Knight
- Narrated by: Victoria Hamilton
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Look around you. Who holds the most power in the room? Is it the one who speaks loudest, who looks the part, who has the most money, who commands the most respect? Or perhaps it’s someone like Christine Butcher: a meek, overlooked figure who silently bears witness as information is shared and secrets are whispered. Someone who quietly, perhaps even unwittingly, gathers together knowledge of the people she’s there to serve - the ones who don’t notice her, the ones who consider themselves to be important.
-
A Judgement in Stone
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Carole Hayman
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four members of the Coverdale family - George, Jacqueline, Melinda and Giles - died in the space of fifteen minutes on the 14th February, St Valentine's Day. Eunice Parchman, the housekeeper, shot them down on a Sunday evening while they were watching opera on television. Two weeks later she was arrested for the crime. But the tragedy neither began nor ended there...
-
-
superb story
- By Amazon Customer on 25-07-14
-
The Rottweiler
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Nigel Anthony
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first girl had a bite mark on her neck, but they traced the DNA to her boyfriend. But the tabloids got hold of the story and called the killer 'The Rottweiler' and the name stuck. The latest murder takes place very near Inez Ferry's antique shop in Marylebone. When the Rottweiler’s trinkets start showing up in the shop, suddenly, everyone Inez knows is a suspect, and the killer feels all too close.
-
-
The Rottweiler
- By Susan Random on 28-02-16
-
A Sight for Sore Eyes
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: David Threlfall
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two damaged children: Teddy Brex, whom no-one loved, and so found it easier to relate to objects or things which never let him down; and Francine Hill, who was discovered sitting by the body of her mother, her skirt red with blood. She couldn’t tell the police or her father anything to help track down the killer.... Children grow up in different ways. Teddy became a handsome young man, Francine was beautiful - a sight for sore eyes. But it was death that brought them together.
-
-
A Sight For Sore Eyes
- By Susan Random on 15-02-16
-
The Keys to the Street
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mary Jago had donated her own bone marrow to save the life of someone she didn’t know. And this generous act led directly to the bitter break-up of her affair with Alistair. For him, it was as though her beauty had been plundered. But the man whose life she had saved would change Mary’s life in a way she could never have imagined.
-
-
A Perfect Match
- By Olga the Owl on 15-11-12
-
The Water's Lovely
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Siân Thomas
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The man who had died was Ismay's stepfather, Guy. Nine years on, she and her sister, Heather, still live in the same house in Clapham. But it has been divided into two self-contained flats. Their mother lives upstairs with her sister, Pamela. And the bathroom, where Guy drowned, has disappeared. Ismay works in public relations, and Heather in catering. They get on well. They always have. They never discuss the changes to the house, still less what happened that August day.
-
-
Unsatisfactory
- By Amazon Customer on 18-07-18
-
The Secretary
- By: Renée Knight
- Narrated by: Victoria Hamilton
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Look around you. Who holds the most power in the room? Is it the one who speaks loudest, who looks the part, who has the most money, who commands the most respect? Or perhaps it’s someone like Christine Butcher: a meek, overlooked figure who silently bears witness as information is shared and secrets are whispered. Someone who quietly, perhaps even unwittingly, gathers together knowledge of the people she’s there to serve - the ones who don’t notice her, the ones who consider themselves to be important.
-
A Judgement in Stone
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Carole Hayman
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four members of the Coverdale family - George, Jacqueline, Melinda and Giles - died in the space of fifteen minutes on the 14th February, St Valentine's Day. Eunice Parchman, the housekeeper, shot them down on a Sunday evening while they were watching opera on television. Two weeks later she was arrested for the crime. But the tragedy neither began nor ended there...
-
-
superb story
- By Amazon Customer on 25-07-14
-
Dark Corners
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A spectacularly compelling story of blackmail, murders both accidental and opportunistic, and one life’s fateful unravelling from Ruth Rendell, writing at her most acute and mesmerising. When his father dies, Carl Martin inherits a house in an increasingly rich and trendy London neighbourhood. Carl needs cash, however, so he rents the upstairs room and kitchen to the first person he interviews, Dermot McKinnon. That was colossal mistake number one.
-
-
Another Rendell Classic
- By SEA, Charente on 12-11-15
-
The Lake of Darkness
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: David Suchet
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When he unexpectedly comes into a small fortune, he decides to use his newfound wealth to help out those in need. Finn also leads a quiet life, and comes into a little money of his own. Normally, their paths would never have crossed. But Martin’s ideas about who should benefit from his charitable impulses yield some unexpected results, and soon the good intentions of the one become fatally entangled with the mercenary nature of the other.
-
-
Rendell writes her villains so well!
- By franjangle on 30-11-18
-
One Across, Two Down
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Nicky Henson
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There are only two things in life that interest Stanley: solving crossword puzzles, and getting his hands on his mother-in-law’s money. For 20 years, the puzzles have been his only pleasure, the money his only dream. It has never occurred to Stanley that his mother-in-law would try to outsmart him and the money would never be his. Until now. It is only now that Stanley, so clever at misleading double meanings and devious clues, decides to construct a puzzle of his own - and so give death a helping hand.
-
-
One Across, Two Down
- By Susan Random on 04-09-15
-
A Demon in My View
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Julian Glover
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a gloomy cellar, the figure of a beautiful, pale woman makes no move when the man advances on her from the shadows, puts his hands around her neck and strangles her. Arthur Johnson is a mild-mannered, shy man who has never known how to talk to women. His resulting loneliness has twisted his yearning for love and respect into a carefully constructed predilection for violence and control.
-
-
A gripping story, a wonderful performance
- By Michael on 12-04-12
-
The Ruth Rendell BBC Radio Drama Collection
- Seven Full-Cast Dramatisations
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Oona Beeson, Jamie Glover, Peter Wingfield, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Full-cast dramatisations of seven of Ruth Rendell's tense psychological thrillers. This collection includes The Bridesmaid, Going Wrong, King Solomon’s Carpet, People Don’t Do Such Things, The Fever Tree, The Dreadful Day of Judgment and Thornapple. Among the casts of these seven suspenseful adaptations are Jamie Glover, Mark Strong, Reece Shearsmith, Paul Rhys, Danny Sapani and Juliet Aubrey.
-
-
Nobody gets out alive. Classic Rendell.
- By Mrs Kate Evans on 08-02-19
-
The Bridesmaid
- A Novella
- By: Julia London
- Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Getting her to the wedding on time is the least of his worries...Kate Preston just moved to New York, but she has to get back to Seattle in time for her best friend's wedding. Joe Firretti is moving to Seattle, and has to get there in time or risk losing his new job. But fate's got a sense of humor.
-
A Spot of Folly
- Ten and a Quarter New Tales of Murder and Mayhem
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble, Toby Longworth, Julian Rhind-Tutt, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Previously uncollected and unpublished: new short stories from a master of psychological suspense. New and uncollected tales of murder, mischief, magic and madness. Ruth Rendell was an acknowledged master of psychological suspense: these are 10 (and a quarter) of her most chillingly compelling short stories, collected here together for the first time.
-
-
Good, but not vintage Rendell
- By DartmoorDiva on 04-11-17
-
Thirteen Steps Down
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mix Cellini (which he pronounces with an S rather than a C) is superstitious about the number 13 and has always felt dogged by ill-luck. In the house where he lives, there are 13 steps down to the landing below his rooms. His landlady lives her life almost exclusively through her library, blind to the neglect and decay around her. However, Mix is obsessed with the life of the notorious John Christie, who lived in the same Notting Hill neighbourhood at 10 Rillington Place.
-
-
Thirteen Steps Down
- By james on 28-05-15
-
The Girl Next Door
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the waning months of the Second World War, a group of children discover an earthen tunnel in their neighbourhood outside London. Throughout the summer of 1944 – until one father forbids it – the subterranean space becomes their 'secret garden', where the friends play games and tell stories. Six decades later, beneath a house on the same land, construction workers uncover a tin box containing two skeletal hands, one male and one female.
-
-
More about relationships than a crime novel
- By Kirstine on 29-08-14
-
A Dark-Adapted Eye
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Harriet Walter
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like most families, they had their secrets...and they hid them under a genteelly respectable veneer. No onlooker would guess that prim Vera Hillyard and her beautiful, adored younger sister, Eden, were locked in a dark and bitter combat over one of those secrets. England in the '50s was not kind to women who erred, so they had to use every means necessary to keep the truth hidden behind closed doors - even murder.
-
-
Compelling exposure of a family’s secrets
- By Kirstine on 06-07-15
-
Portobello
- By: Ruth Rendell
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Portobello area of West London has a rich personality. It also has an edge to it. There is nothing safe about Portobello.
Eugene Wren was 50, with prematurely white hair. He also had an addictive personality. But he had cut back on alcohol and had given up cigarettes - which was just as well, considering he was going out with a doctor. On a shopping trip one day, Eugene, quite by chance, came across an envelope containing money.....
-
-
rather dull
- By Gillian on 01-08-09
-
King Solomon's Carpet
- By: Barbara Vine
- Narrated by: Michael Pennington
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eccentric Jarvis lives in a crumbling schoolhouse overlooking the tube line, compiling his obsessive history of the Underground. A group of misfits are also drawn towards his strange house: Alice, who has run away from her husband and baby; Tom, the busker who rescues her; truant Jasper who finds his terrifying thrills on the tube; and enigmatic Axel, whose deadly secret casts a shadow over all their lives.
-
-
So different and absolutely gripping
- By Nana Chris on 17-02-15
Summary
Eve and Liza, Mother and Daughter, live a quiet life in their remote home; a rustic gatehouse of a country mansion. At first glance their lives appear quite ordinary, except that Liza has almost no knowledge of the outside world, has never played with a child her own age and has witnessed her mother commit murder, on multiple occasions.
Eve and Liza, Mother and Daughter, live a quiet life in their remote home; a rustic gatehouse of a country mansion. At first glance their lives appear quite ordinary, except that Liza has almost no knowledge of the outside world, has never played with a child her own age and has witnessed her mother commit murder, on multiple occasions. Now, as the police come searching for a missing man, they must vacate their secluded home, shattering Liza’s sheltered world. With 100 pounds and her secret lover, Liza gradually learns about the world, her mother’s tale of betrayal, desire and obsession and just how like mother, like daughter she really is.
More from the same
What members say
Average customer ratings
Overall
-
-
5 Stars44
-
4 Stars13
-
3 Stars9
-
2 Stars1
-
1 Stars1
Performance
-
-
5 Stars44
-
4 Stars7
-
3 Stars2
-
2 Stars0
-
1 Stars0
Story
-
-
5 Stars35
-
4 Stars10
-
3 Stars6
-
2 Stars1
-
1 Stars0
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Slubberd
- Sheffield, United Kingdom
- 11-02-17
Unexpected
I suppose now in the days of CSI and crime dramas like it the crimes perpetrated in this book are relatively tame. But as a new reader to Rendell and the Whydunnits I'm really finding these stories addictive. They are well told and structured. This one particularly has a girl called Liza recounting her strange upbringing to her boyfriend, whom she has run to as her mother sends her away.
A thing to note is that when I say strange upbringing, I don't mean weird in the awful sense that she lives with a murderer and every weekend they go on butchering escapades of the local tourists. The book is many times more subtle than that and is brilliant for it. You can identify with the why - and that I am finding is what makes Ruth Rendell surpass being a crime writer. She tells stories so well. I am so excited that I now have her entire collection to read!
Set in the late 80s but not at all dated as classics never are. Juliet Stevenson is my favourite narrator, her characters subtle but her range is wide.
A really enjoyable book. Strove will stay with me the same way that Manderley does.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kate Murphy
- Donegal, Ireland
- 29-02-16
Brilliant
Wonderful atmospheric story, beautifully read. One of the best audiobooks I have listened to. Ruth Rendell at her best. The first class narration by Juliet Stevenson makes it a winner in my eyes.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Eliza
- 20-05-17
Flawless
Any additional comments?
An absolutely wonderful book, beautifully written, impeccably plotted, just fabulous. Ruth Rendell is such a brilliant writer, being a great storyteller as well as writing prose of exceptional beauty and clarity.The pleasure of the story is greatly enhanced by Juliet Stevenson's exquisite narration. She has such a lovely voice, never mispronounces anything or puts a stress on the wrong word, and makes the characters come fully alive with her range of voices and accents.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Barbara Royster
- 16-10-16
A great read
Wonderful story telling by narrator. The relationship between mother and daughter subtle and moving
The writer builds the suspense so you are hooked
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Susan Random
- London
- 15-07-15
The Crocodile Bird
I read this book years ago, but it was great to be able to rediscover it via an audiobook. The themes are murder, isolation and obsession, so it's more akin to a Barbara Vine novel than a non-Wexford Rendell. The characters were well-crafted and believable.
Juliet Stevenson's narration was clear and perfectly suited for the story. Her performance of the working class Sean was also commendable.
A great listen, recommended.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Presto
- 03-02-19
Most enjoyable
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Excellently written and read! An intriguing story. I definitely recommend this.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- The Aardvark
- 04-04-18
Beautiful unfolding of story and characters
The characters and excellent storyline fully captured my imagination right from the very first line.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mrs Kate Evans
- Cardiff, United Kingdom
- 20-05-14
Dire, absolutely dire.
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
No. Ruth Rendell is capable of much better. I waited and waited for something to happen.
What did you like best about this story?
The narration.
Have you listened to any of Juliet Stevenson’s other performances? How does this one compare?
She is one of my favourite narrators.
Could you see The Crocodile Bird being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?
Definitely not. I can't imagine anyone commissioning it.
1 of 5 people found this review helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ilana
- 16-03-12
Gripping
Liza, a young girl of sixteen must flee from her secluded home, the gatehouse of a great mansion, to avoid being questioned by the police about a crime that her mother Eve has just committed. She makes her way to her lover and proceeds to tell him, in the style of The Arabian Nights, the story of how she came to be in this situation, in the process revealing a life story full of intrigue and horror. Until then, Eve had tried her best to shield Liza from the world and all it's modern amenities, and most of what Liza knows about life is gleaned from the 19th century books available in the mansion. Liza looks just like Eve, and must find out whether she is a an exact copy of her mother in deed as well as in looks, or whether she can exercise her own free will. I found this tale quite gripping, enough so to include it among my favourite reads of the year, and the narration by Juliet Stephenson was of course excellent.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful