The Rottweiler - Hardcover

Rendell, Ruth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1400051908 ISBN 13: 9781400051908

Publisher: Crown, 2004

Synopsis

The first young woman murdered had a bite mark on her neck, prompting the media to dub her killer “The Rottweiler.” As the number of killings grows to two, three, and beyond, that nickname sticks, even though it has become clear that the original bite was incidental. The Rottweiler is a serial garroter, distinguished by his habit of taking a small trinket from each victim as a macabre souvenir.

The strangled young women all lived in the same ethnically diverse London neighborhood near Lisson Grove, so it is here that the police focus their investigation. Soon their suspicions lead them to an antiques shop, where items taken from the victims start turning up amid the clutter. As we get acquainted with the odd assortment of characters who work in and pass through the shop, we sense that one of them will be the Rottweiler’s next victim...unless the meticulous killer makes an uncharacteristic mistake.

Ruth Rendell is in top form here as she deftly propels the narrative, alternating between the inner life of a compulsive killer and the daily affairs of those who live nearby, unknowing yet somehow aware of the unnerving shadow of his presence.

“Ruth Rendell has written some of the best novels of the twentieth century.” —Frances Fyfield

“Rendell’s clear, shapely prose casts the mesmerizing spell of the confessional.” —The New Yorker

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

A series of apparently motiveless murders disrupts the lives of some very different people in Rendell’s darkly atmospheric London.

The first victim was discovered with a bite on her neck. The police traced the DNA to the girl’s boyfriend, but the tabloids had already dubbed the murderer “The Rottweiler,” and the name stuck. The latest body was found near Inez Ferry’s shop in Marylebone. Someone spotted a figure fleeing into the shadows, but couldn’t say even if it was man or woman. The only other clues are the murderer’s penchant for strangling his prey, and for then removing a small token -- a necklace, a lighter.

To make ends meet, widowed Inez Ferry takes in tenants above her antique store. The unpredictable and obsessive acts of the serial murderer begin profoundly to disturb the lives of the heterogeneous little community of lodgers, especially when suspicion grows that one of them might be “The Rottweiler.”

From the Back Cover:

"Ruth Rendell has written some of the best novels of the twentieth century."
--Frances Fyfield

"Rendell's clear, shapely prose casts the mesmerizing spell of the confessional."
--The New Yorker
From the Paperback edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1400051908
• ISBN 13: 9781400051908
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352