Plans for an iconic blue plaque to commemorate the life of renowned crime writer Ruth Rendell have been confirmed.

A plaque will be placed on a house in Millsmead Way, Loughton, where Mrs Rendell lived when she was married.

The author, who is best known for her series of novels featuring Chief Inspector Wexford, died in May aged 85 after suffering a stroke.

Loughton Town Council discussed plans for the plaque with Mrs Rendell herself in 1999, and town clerk Enid Walsh said the owners of the property in Millsmead Way had already indicated support.

Councillor and local historian Chris Pond said: “Although she was born in South Woodford, she lived in Loughton from the age of eight and grew up in Shelley Grove.

“It is very much her home and she was part of the town from being a local reporter.

“It was in Loughton that I think she started writing and it actually features in two of her novels.

“Her last novel, called the Girl Next Door, is completely set in Loughton, so it is entirely appropriate that we would honour one of the most prolific and most read authors that the town has produced.”

The famed writer, who was also a member of the House of Lords and campaigned against female genital mutilation, started her career as a Loughton-based journalist at the Guardian's rival paper the Chigwell Times after leaving school.

Some of her fiction is set in Epping Forest and Loughton, and she coined the name ‘Little Cornwall’ for the hilly portion of the town in her 1974 novel The Face of Trespass.

Councillors have also confirmed that a customised blue plaque will be placed at Homebase in Church Hill, once a former garage for the London General Omnibus Company.

Dates have not yet been set for the plaques to go up.