Novels

• To Fear A Painted Devil (1965)
• Vanity Dies Hard (1965)
• The Secret House of Death (1968)
• One Across, Two Down (1971)
• The Face of Trespass (1974)
• A Demon in My View (1976)
• A Judgement In Stone (1977)
• Make Death Love Me (1979)
• The Lake of Darkness (1980)
• Master of the Moor (1982)
• The Killing Doll (1984)
• The Tree of Hands (1984)
• Live Flesh (1986)
• Talking to Strange Men (1987)
• The Bridesmaid (1989)
• Going Wrong (1990)
• The Crocodile Bird (1993)
• The Keys to the Street (1996)
• A Sight for Sore Eyes (1998)
• Adam and Eve and Pinch Me (2001)
• The Rottweiler (2003)
• Thirteen Steps Down (2004)
• The Water's Lovely (2006)
• Portobello (2008)
• Tigerlily's Orchids (2010)

Inspector Wexford series

1. From Doon With Death (1964)
2. A New Lease of Death (1967) (American title: The Sins of the Fathers)
3. Wolf to the Slaughter (1967)
4. The Best Man to Die (1969)
5. A Guilty Thing Surprised (1970)
6. No More Dying Then (1971)
7. Murder Being Done Once (1972)
8. Some Lie And Some Die (1973)
9. Shake Hands Forever (1975)
10. A Sleeping Life (1979)
11. Put on By Cunning (1981) (American title: Death Notes)
12. The Speaker of Mandarin (1983)
13. An Unkindness of Ravens (1985)
14. The Veiled One (1988)
15. Kissing the Gunner's Daughter (1992)
16. Simisola (1994)
17. Road Rage (1997)
18. Harm Done (1999)
19. The Babes in the Wood (2002)
20. End in Tears (2005)
21. Not in the Flesh (2007)
22. The Monster in the Box (2009)

Written as Barbara Vine

• A Dark-Adapted Eye (1986)
• A Fatal Inversion (1987)
• The House of Stairs (1988)
• Gallowglass (1990)
• King Solomon's Carpet (1991)
• Asta's Book (1993) (American title: Anna's Book)
• No Night Is Too Long (1994)
• The Brimstone Wedding (1995)
• The Chimney-sweeper's Boy (1998)
• Grasshopper (2000)
• The Blood Doctor (2002)
• The Minotaur (2005)
• The Birthday Present (2008)

Novellas

• Heartstones (1987)
• The Thief (2006)

Short story collections

• The Fallen Curtain (1976)
• Means of Evil (1979) (five Inspector Wexford stories)
• The Fever Tree (1982)
• The New Girlfriend (1985)
• The Copper Peacock (1991)
• Blood Lines (1995)
• Piranha to Scurfy (2000)
• Collected Short Stories, Volume 1 (2006)
• Collected Short Stories, Volume 2 (2008)

Uncollected short stories

• In the Time of His Prosperity* (as Barbara Vine)

Non-fiction

• Ruth Rendell's Suffolk (1989)
• Undermining the Central Line: giving government back to the people (with Colin Ward, 1989) a political tract
• The Reason Why: An Anthology of the Murderous Mind (1995)

• 1975 - Mystery Writers of America Best Short Story Edgar: The Fallen Curtain
• 1976 - Gold Dagger for Fiction: A Demon in My View
• 1979 - Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award (shortlist): A Sleeping Life
• 1980 - Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award (shortlist): Make Death Love Me
• 1980 - Martin Beck Award: Make Death Love Me
• 1981 - Arts Council National Book Award for Genre Fiction: The Lake of Darkness
• 1984 - Silver Dagger for Fiction: The Tree of Hands
• 1984 - Mystery Writers of America Best Short Story Edgar: The New Girlfriend
• 1986 - Gold Dagger for Fiction: Live Flesh
• 1986 - Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award (shortlist): The Tree of Hands
• 1986 - Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award (shortlist): An Unkindness of Ravens
• 1987 - Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award: A Dark-Adapted Eye
• 1987 - Gold Dagger for Fiction: A Fatal Inversion
• 1988 - Angel Award for Fiction: The House of Stairs
• 1990 - Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence
• 1991 - Gold Dagger for Fiction: King Solomon's Carpet
• 1991 - Cartier Diamond Dagger for a Lifetime's Achievement in the Field
• 1996 - CBE
• 1997 - Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award
• 2004 - Mystery Ink Gumshoe Award for Lifetime Achievement
• 2005 - CWA Dagger of Daggers (best crime novel to have won the Gold Dagger award (shortlist)): A Fatal Inversion
• 2007 - Gumshoe Award for Best European Crime Novel (shortlist): The Minotaur
• 2007 - Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award (longlist): End in Tears