The Saint Zita Society by Ruth Rendell
'Someone had told Dex that the Queen lived in Victoria. So did he, but she had a palace and he had one room in a street off Warwick Way. Still he liked the idea that she was his neighbour.' Dex works as a gardener for Dr Jefferson at his home on Hexam Place in Pimlico: an exclusive street of white-painted stucco Georgian houses inhabited by the rich, and serviced by the not so rich. The hired help, a motley assortment of au pairs, drivers and cleaners, decide to form the St Zita Society (Zita was the patron saint of domestic servants) as an excuse to meet at the local pub and air their grievances. When Dex is invited to attend one of these meetings, the others find that he is a strange man, seemingly ill at ease with human beings. These first impressions are compounded when they discover he has recently been released from a hospital for the criminally insane, where he was incarcerated for attempting to kill his own mother. Dex's most meaningful relationship seems to be with his mobile phone service provider, Peach, and he interprets the text notifications and messages he receives from the company as a reassuring sign that there is some kind of god who will protect him. And give him instructions about ridding the world of evil spirits . . . Accidental death and pathological madness cohabit above and below stairs in Hexam Place.
"Rendell deploys her unadorned prose style to create memorable characters and nail-biting suspense" * Sunday Times *
"This is a rip-roaring crime caper that will have you on the edge of your seat and will keep you guessing until the very last pages." * Daily Express *
"Rendell's prose style is unadorned, but she uses it to create memorable characters and nail-biting suspense." * Sunday Times *
"Rendell is excellent on the delicate snobbery of the uneasy territory in between the social classes." * Independent *
"A superbly executed ensemble piece set in an exclusive street in Pimlico, home to the rich and privileged and those who supply their daily wants and needs . . . Psychodramas abound and, as always, Rendell excels at detailing misunderstandings, paranoia, subtle power-shifts and the laws of unintended consequences . . . a fascinating murder mystery." * Guardian *
"This is a rip-roaring crime caper that will have you on the edge of your seat and will keep you guessing until the very last pages." * Daily Express *
"Rendell's prose style is unadorned, but she uses it to create memorable characters and nail-biting suspense." * Sunday Times *
"Rendell is excellent on the delicate snobbery of the uneasy territory in between the social classes." * Independent *
"A superbly executed ensemble piece set in an exclusive street in Pimlico, home to the rich and privileged and those who supply their daily wants and needs . . . Psychodramas abound and, as always, Rendell excels at detailing misunderstandings, paranoia, subtle power-shifts and the laws of unintended consequences . . . a fascinating murder mystery." * Guardian *
Ruth Rendell was an exceptional crime writer, and will be remembered as a legend in her own lifetime. Her groundbreaking debut novel, From Doon With Death, was first published in 1964 and introduced the reader to her enduring and popular detective, Inspector Reginald Wexford, who went on to feature in twenty-four of her subsequent novels. With worldwide sales of approximately 20 million copies, Rendell was a regular Sunday Times bestseller. Her sixty bestselling novels include police procedurals, some of which have been successfully adapted for TV, stand-alone psychological mysteries, and a third strand of crime novels under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Very much abreast of her times, the Wexford books in particular often engaged with social or political issues close to her heart. Rendell won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger for 1976’s best crime novel with A Demon in My View, a Gold Dagger award for Live Flesh in 1986, and the Sunday Times Literary Award in 1990. In 2013 she was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing. In 1996 she was awarded the CBE and in 1997 became a Life Peer. Ruth Rendell died in May 2015. Her final novel, Dark Corners, is scheduled for publication in October 2015
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780091944056 |
| ISBN 10 | 0091944058 |
| Title | The Saint Zita Society |
| Author | Ruth Rendell |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Cornerstone |
| Year published | 2012-07-05 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |