Synopses & Reviews
INCLUDES AN EXCERPT OF RENDELL’S FINAL NOVEL,
DARK CORNERS
From three-time Edgar Award–winning mystery writer Ruth Rendell comes a captivating and expertly plotted tale of residents and servants on one block of a posh London street—and the deadly ways their lives intertwine.
Life for the residents and servants of Hexam Place appears placid and orderly on the outside: drivers take their employers to and from work, dogs are walked, flowers are planted in gardens, and Christmas candles lit uniformly in windows. But beneath this tranquil veneer, the upstairs-downstairs relationships are set to combust.
Henry, the handsome valet to Lord Studley, is sleeping with both the Lord’s wife and his university-age daughter. Montserrat, the Still family’s lazy au pair, assists Mrs. Still in keeping secret her illicit affair with a television actor—in exchange for pocket cash. June, the haughty housekeeper to a princess of dubious origin, tries to enlist her fellow house-helpers into a “society” to address complaints about their employers. Meanwhile, Dex, the disturbed gardener to several families on the block, thinks a voice on his cell phone is giving him godlike instructions—commands that could imperil the lives of all those in Hexam Place.
The St. Zita Society is Ruth Rendell at her brilliant best—a deeply observed and suspenseful novel of murder in the quintessentially London world of servants and their masters.
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"The queen of the psychological thriller...an updated Downton Abbey with a higher body count." --John WIlliams, Mail on Sunday (UK)
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"Rendell is brilliant...her sympathy for the human predicament comes across in every line of this novel."--Sophie Hannah, Sunday Express (UK)
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"Rendell is just marvelous." --Herald Sun (Australia)
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"As always, Rendell excels at detailed misunderstandings, paranoia, subtle power-shifts and the laws of unintended consequences."--Laura Wilson, The Guardian (UK)
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"One hell of a read...Rendell keeps us hanging on."--Jane Jakeman, Belfast Telegraph (UK)
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"Leaves you longing for more."--Kirkus Reviews
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"[A] masterwork...dark, intelligent and intriguing."--People
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“It's a pleasure to report that Ruth Rendell, at the age of 82 and after publishing more than 60 books, has given us yet another gem. A pleasure but not a surprise, since Rendell has for years, along with her friend P.D. James, been bringing new sophistication and psychological depth to the traditional English mystery.”--Washington Post
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“If you're unfamiliar with Ruth Rendell, if you've somehow managed to miss her 60 or so books, if you've never experienced the frisson produced by her unique blend of elegant prose and brutal plotting or laughed out loud at her acidic humor or social observations, then congratulations: Your reading life is about to get infinitely richer… As with Patricia Highsmith, Rendell is a brilliant if detached observer of all levels of society… Like Charles Dickens, Rendell writes about contemporary London crime, but no one would call Dickens just a mystery writer. Rendell's work is too great, too thought-provoking and too important to be pigeonholed. The only mystery is why everyone doesn't know it.” Jonathan Shapiro
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“The St. Zita Society takes up residence in a picturesque London street and ever so slowly and delicately eviscerates the pretentious upper-middle-class residents…as often happens in Rendell’s novels of psychological suspense, characters are undone by their own obsessions. But these meltdowns are executed with such stealth and subtlety that the psychic cracks aren’t visible - until suddenly they are.”—Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review < -="" i="" -=""> - Los Angeles Times - < -="" -="">
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“Written with Rendell’s customary grace and precision…[The St. Zita Society] will reward those who crave deep character studies and thought-provoking questions of guilt and innocence.”—Sandra Parshall, Washington Independent Review of Books
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“The prolific Rendell, the author of more than 60 works of fiction and a master of well-paced suspense and insight, has again written a novel that inspires grim smiles and great shocks.”—Jay Strafford, Richmond Times-Dispatch
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“Upstairs, Downstairs in sordid hyper-drive…one of Britain’s leading crime writers turns her attention to orchestrating the tangled and secretive lives of masters and servants on a London street.”—Jimmy So, The Daily Beast
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“Yet another gem…The St. Zita Society is both a sex comedy and a social satire, of the ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ variety, with a few murders mixed in for our added delight.”—Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post Book World
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“A gripping portrayal of the London world of servants and their masters, all marching toward an inevitable—and violent—conclusion…The St. Zita Society, a brilliantly crafted novel of psychological suspense, further enforces [Rendell’s] rightful place as the queen of British mystery writing.”—Kerry McHugh, Shelf Awareness
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“Rendell, an expert craftsman, has delivered the goods again.”—Muriel Dobbin, The Washington Times
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“A modern, murderous take on the relationship between master and servant in modern England.”—Susannah Cahalan, The New York Post
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“A trip down a road so twisted that only a guide as skillful as Rendell could navigate it without a false step.”—Elly Griffiths, Denver Post
Synopsis
From three-time Edgar Award-winning mystery writer Ruth Rendell comes a captivating and expertly plotted tale of residents and servants on one block of a posh London street—and the deadly ways their lives intertwine.Life in the well-manicured London locale of Hexam Place is not as placid and orderly as it appears. Behind the tranquil gardens and polished entryways, relationships between servants and their employers are set to combust.
Henry, the handsome valet to Lord Studley, is sleeping with both the Lord’s wife and his university-age daughter. Montserrate, the Still family’s lazy au pair, is helping to hide Mrs. Still’s illicit affair with a television actor—for a small fee. June, the haughty housekeeper to a princess of dubious origin, is hard at work forming a “society” for servants to address complaints about their employers. Meanwhile, a disturbed gardener, Dex, believes a voice in his cellphone is giving him godlike instructions—that could endanger the lives of all who reside in Hexam Place.
A deeply observed and suspenseful update to the upstairs/downstairs genre, The St. Zita Society is Ruth Rendall at her incisive best.
About the Author
Ruth Rendell (1930–2015) won three Edgar Awards, the highest accolade from Mystery Writers of America, as well as four Gold Daggers and a Diamond Dagger for outstanding contribution to the genre from England’s prestigious Crime Writers’ Association. Her remarkable career spanned a half century, with more than sixty books published. A member of the House of Lords, she was one of the great literary figures of our time.