Vanity Dies Hard is a novel by British writer Ruth Rendell, published in 1966 by John Long Ltd in the UK[1] and in the same year as In Sickness and in Health by Doubleday in the US.

[4] Ruth Rendell has said that her non-series novels are meant to be “stories of psychological suspense”.

[5] In this case, wealthy Alice Whittaker has married the much younger teacher Andrew Fielding at the age of 37 and has arranged for him to be given a job in the family firm.

When she goes to visit her more glamorous friend Nesta Drage in the nearby town to which she has moved, Alice discovers that she has given a false address.

As her illness worsens and Alice grows more and more fearful, Harry Blunden, the doctor who has always loved her, turns reticent and withdrawn.