Published in 1977, ‘A Judgment in Stone’ starts with the shocking revelation that domestic Eunice Parchman killed the entire Coverdale family for whom she worked. “There was no real motive and no premeditation,” Rendell writes. “She accomplished by it nothing but disaster for herself, and all along, somewhere in her strange mind, she knew she would accomplish nothing” (1). This is a quietly psychological novel: we know what’s coming, the question is how and, more importantly, why. Middle-aged and taciturn, Eunice has several secrets to cover up; most shameful to her is her inability to read or write, which today we might perceive as a marker of a deeper, more humiliating kind of childhood abuse. The Coverdale family is well-meaning, but perhaps clueless in their privilege; nevertheless, Rendell creates them as likable, even occasionally comic, characters. The book is a slow-rolling crash of cultures, exacerbated by Eunice’s only friend, Joan Smith, a somewhat fanatical gossip and adherent of a religious cult. There’s a lot to unpack here, about class, modernity, and irrational fear. My first Rendell, but I’ll definitely read more.