The Crocodile Bird

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517595761 ISBN 13: 9780517595763

Publisher: Crown, 1993

A mother and a daughter live quietly in the rustic gatehouse of Shrove House, an isolated British estate. Their life seems perfectly ordinary except that daughter Liza has been kept isolated from the outside world for all of her sixteen years. And that he has seen her beautiful mother commit murder... more than once. Now, as the police come searching for a missing man, Liza's sheltered, strange world begins to fall apart. Piece by piece she will reveal her mother's tale of betrayal, desire, and obsession. Step-by-step we discover how much like mother, like daughter she is.
From the Paperback edition.

About the Author:

Ruth Rendell is the author of Road Rage, The Keys to the Street, Bloodlines, Simisola, and The Crocodile Bird. She is the winner of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award. She is also the recipient of three Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America and four Gold Daggers from Great Britain’s Crime Writers Association. In 1997, she was named a life peer in the House of Lords. Rendell also writes mysteries under the name of Barbara Vine, of which A Dark-Adapted Eye is the most famous. She lives in England.

From AudioFile:

Ruth Rendell's latest psychological thriller presents a terrifying look into the relationship of a serial killer and her daughter. There is no "who done it" about this novel, you know right away who did it. As in many of Rendell's novels, the real question is why? Although the narration is very good and the characters voices distinguishable, too much is lost in the abridgment. The plot is clear, but little of the feeling and the mood remain. It is for these features that Rendell is often referred to as "the greatest mystery writer in the English-speaking world." Some texts cannot be cut, however expertly, without losing some essential core. E.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine