British author Ruth Rendell has died at the age of 85, her family has confirmed. The best-selling author had been admitted to hospital in January after suffering a serious stroke.

ruth rendellRendell had suffered a serious stroke in January.

“It is with great sadness that the family of author Ruth Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, announce that she passed away in London at 8am on Saturday 2 May, aged 85,” the author’s publisher Hutchinson announced in a statement. “The family have requested privacy at this time.”

Rendell wrote more than 60 novels during her career, beginning in 1964 with her debut novel From Doon with Death, which introduced her most famous creation Chief Inspector Wexford. Rendell also published psychological thrillers under the pseudonym Barbara Vine.

The author received many awards and honours throughout her career, including the Silver, Gold, and Cartier Diamond Daggers from the Crime Writers' Association and The Sunday Times Literary Award. Her final novel, Dark Corners is scheduled for publication this October.

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“We are devastated by the loss of one of our best-loved authors,” Rendell’s publisher Hutchinson told The Guardian. “Ruth was very much part of our publishing family and a friend to many at Penguin Random House – we will miss her enormously. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time.”

Rendell was also a Labour life peer, who regularly sat in the House of Lords. Her friend, Baroness Gail Rebuck, the chair of Penguin Random House UK, described Rendell as “A great writer, a campaigner for social justice, a proud mother and grandmother, a generous and loyal friend and probably the best read person I have ever met.”

“Her many close friends in publishing and the House of Lords will greatly miss her wonderful company and her truly unique contribution to our lives,” Rebuck told the Guardian.