The Speaker Of Mandarin

Nov 30, 2025 7:09 AM

Author:Ruth Rendell

Readers of PD James, Ann Cleeves and Donna Leon will love this gripping crime thriller full of twists and turns from multi-million copy and SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Ruth Rendell.

'The most brilliant mystery writer' -- Patricia Cornwell

'Probably the greatest crime writer in the world' -- Ian Rankin

'Totally gripping with superb twist at the end!' -- ***** Reader review

'Fascinating' -- ***** Reader review

'Superb on all counts' -- ***** Reader review

'Keeps the reader rooted to the spot and in the dark till the very end' -- ***** Reader review

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Wherever Reggie Wexford goes, death and intrigue are close on his heels. Having just returned from a once-in-a-lifetime holiday in China, Wexford finds himself haunted by memories of the old woman with bound feet who mysteriously followed him from one city to the next and the man who tragically drowned.

Now, back in England, he finds himself investigating the murder of a fellow tourist. Knowing that the clue to these three mysteries lies in the East, Wexford turns his investigative skills to that place of unfathomable and sinister depths...

Reviews

The most brilliant mystery writer of our time

—— Patricia Cornwell

Probably the greatest living crime writer in the world

—— Ian Rankin

Through the quality of her writing she's raised the game of the crime novel in this country

—— Peter James

Nothing less than show-stopping

—— Guardian

A page-turner in the smartest possible sense, written with the historical authenticity and taut command of language that has established Irving as one of America's greatest living novelists

—— GQ

I was astounded by the power of the writing

—— Corin Redgrave

A great book

—— Observer

Few novels in the last ten years have given me so much enjoyment

—— Sunday Times

A novel of exceptional stature. One may claim for it classic status

—— Frank Kermode

A literary phenomenon on the grandest scale – a work of genius

—— Isabel Quigly

Sublime and sweet melancholy suffuses the story. Beautiful

—— Tim Waterstone , The Week

A delicate meditation on mortality, decay and the fading of beauty

—— Martin Sixsmith , The Week

Historical fiction at its best

—— Orlando Figes , The Week

No novel is perfect, but this small, wonderfully atmospheric and immensely poignant story...comes very close

—— Sunday Times, *Summer Reads of 2021*

Blisteringly angry..,begins as a black comedy but gradually turns much darker with the mad-as-hell narrator suspected of murdering his lovers in London

—— Sunday Telegraph

Sutton shows us everything through Freeman's eyes and he pulls it off very well indeed. A horrible character but a compelling narrator

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

Sutton shows us everything through Freeman's eyes and he pulls it off very well indeed

—— William Leith , The Scotsman

This darkly comic novel with it's brilliantly acute observations of life in London in the 21st Century completely captures the zeitgeist and raises more than a few laughs.

—— Carla McKay , Daily Mail

Gripping and darkly comic tale of 21st-century material greed

—— Shortlist

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