Ian Hart stars in these BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of Patricia Highsmith's five Ripley novels.

Tom Ripley detests murder unless it is absolutely necessary. He prefers someone else to do the dirty work. But if he's called on to act there is no one more cool, calculating and clever.

In these dramatisations, BBC Radio 4 brings all Patricia Highsmith's Ripley novels together in one thrilling series. In The Talented Mr Ripley, Tom makes a bid for another man's inheritance and succeeds, but has he really got away with it? Ripley Under Ground is set a few years later, when Tom is living in luxury in a French chateau with his beautiful wife Heloise—but the clever art forgery which funds Tom's expensive tastes is about to be uncovered. In Ripley's Game, Tom sets up a man he dislikes to carry out two perfect murders, while in The Boy Who Followed Ripley, a rich young stalker arrives at Belle Ombre and he and Tom end up fighting for their lives. Finally, in Ripley Under Water, strange new neighbours show an overdeveloped interest in Ripley's past. Will Tom's shady dealings be exposed?

Tense, thrilling and atmospheric, these dramatisations are perfect evocations of Highsmith's unique, complex and brilliantly twisted crime novels.

Published by arrangement with William Heinemann, one of the publishers in the Random House Group Ltd.

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