The title story is about a man whose life, in a sense, is a book. Life for Ambrose Ribbon is lonely and obsessive without his mother, yet there is one book that he associates particularly with her - volume VIII of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Piranha to Scurfy'. It marked a very significant moment in their relationship . . . As well as Piranha to Scurfy, these stories are also included: Computer Seance, Fair Exchange, The Wink, Catamount, Walter's Leg, The Professional, The Beach Butler, The Astronomical Scarf, High Mysterious Union and Myth.Ruth Rendell, who also writes under the name of Barbara Vine, has won many awards, including the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger and two Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America. She has also won the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer.Among Lindsay Duncan's stage credits are The Provok'd Wife, The Rivals, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Olivier...