| A Sleeping Life | |
| Author: | Ruth Rendell |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | Inspector Wexford #10 |
| Genre: | Crime novel |
| Publisher: | Hutchinson (UK) Doubleday (US) |
| Release Date: | 8 May 1978 |
| Media Type: | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Isbn: | 0-09-132540-4 |
| Dewey: | 823/.9/14 |
| Congress: | PZ4.R4132 Sl 1978b PR6068.E63 |
| Oclc: | 4068236 |
| Preceded By: | Shake Hands Forever |
| Followed By: | Put on By Cunning |
A Sleeping Life is a crime-novel by British writer Ruth Rendell, first published in 1978. It features her popular investigator Detective Inspector Wexford, and is the tenth novel in the series.
A Sleeping Life was a finalist for the 1979 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel.[1] It was one of two Inspector Wexford novels to have been shortlisted for either of the "big two" crime-fiction awards, the Edgar or the CWA Gold Dagger. An Unkindness of Ravens was also nominated in 1986.
In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews wrote, "When Rendell writes crime-from-the-criminal-point-of-view, she is gripping and creepy. When she writes straightforward detection starring homely, countryish Inspector Wexford, she is even better".[2]