Thirteen Steps Down
A stand-alone novel published by Hutchinson in 2004
I’d call her Shakespearean if Shakespeare had lived alone in a tall narrow London house in the 20th century, peering out at the neighbours, walking area cats and planning a bit of harm.
A classic Rendellian loner, Mix Cellini is superstitious about the number 13. Living in a decaying house in Notting Hill, Mix is obsessed with 10 Rillington Place, where the notorious Christie committed a series of foul murders. He is also infatuated with a beautiful model who lives nearby - a woman who would not look at him twice.
Mix’s landlady, Gwendolen Chawcer is equally reclusive - living her life through her library of books. Both landlady and lodger inhabit weird worlds of their own. But when reality intrudes into Mix’s life, long pent-up violence explodes.
Notes
Dedication: To P.D. James, with affection and admiration.
Ruth Rendell visits the Notting Hill locations used in Thirteen Steps Down.
Leonard Lopate interviews Ruth Rendell in New York.
Adapted for TV by Adrian Hodges in 2012.
Contemporary Reads 2
Karin Fossum - The Murder of Harriet Krohn
Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Kate Atkinson - Case Histories
Arnaldur Indriðason - The Draining Lake
C.J. Sansom - Dark Fire
Andrea Levy - Small Island
Footnotes
A salute to Ruth Rendell, Toronto Star 2015. ↩︎
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