The Keys to the Street

Lush green by day, darkly sinister by night, Regent's Park hosts an underworld of drug ushers and thugs, of London's homeless and the unseen killer who is impaling them, one by one, on the ornate railings that encircle the park.Theirs is a world light years away from Mary Jago's elegant new home and museum job across the park. Mary, in an uncharacteristic act of self-assertion, has left her abusive boyfriend and, in an act of humanity, has donated her bone marrow to a stranger. She then meets the fragile young man whose life she saved—Leo, flesh of her flesh, bone of her bone, a twin soul—and becomes deeply involved with him.But Mary's boldness has its price. Among the park's shattered hopes and new dreams, something dark and deadly waits for her...eager to rob her of something more precious than life.

Discovering Ruth Rendell late must be like discovering Mozart late: any regrets for time wasted are overwhelmed by the pleasure of having so many treats to choose from. She writes mysteries about Inspector Wexford and suspense thrillers about what happens when people's lives accidently collide. This new book falls into the thriller category: in the first few pages we meet a large group of people living in and around London's Regents Park. There are the homeless, whose hardships are added to when a murderer begins to decimate their ranks; a barely-restrained lunatic who works as a dog-walker; a drug dealer and his violent helper; and Rendell's central character, Mary Jago, a gentle young woman whose courageous charity brings her lots of trouble. The best recent Wexford mystery is Simisola; other recommended Rendells include: From Doon With Death, The Tree of Hands, An Unkindness of Ravens and The Brimstone Wedding (written under her Barbara Vine alter ego).