The Saint Zita Society - Softcover

Rendell, Ruth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099571048 ISBN 13: 9780099571049

Publisher: Arrow, 2013

Synopsis

'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.

About this title

Review:

"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)

Book Description:

Ruth Rendell's new psychological thriller is a gripping examination of society. And the darkness is never far away . . .

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0099571048
• ISBN 13: 9780099571049
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352