Two things interest Stanley Manning: crossword puzzles, and the substantial sum his wife Vera stands to inherit when his mother-in-law dies. Otherwise, life at 61 Lanchester Road is a living hell. For she lives with them now--and she will stop at nothing to tear his marriage apart. One afternoon, Stanley lends death a helping hand. But very soon after the deed is done, he finds that his actions may cost him. In One Across, Two Down, master crime writer Ruth Rendell describes a man whose strained sanity and stained reputation transform him from a witless loser into a killer afraid of his own shadow.