The St. Zita Society

Ruth Rendell's 62nd novel turns the servants' quarters of a posh Knightsbridge street into a pressure cooker of class resentment, hidden affairs, and slow-building menace. The ensemble is large — valets, au pairs, housekeepers, a disturbed gardener hearing voices — but Rendell keeps every thread taut, and the social satire landing on upstairs-downstairs London is sharp and often wickedly funny. The Guardian called it a superbly executed ensemble piece, and that's fair. The honest caveat, and it matters for this site: sexual affairs are central to the plot, the content is decidedly adult, and the disturbing psychology throughout makes this a mature recommendation only. It's not a faith-family read. Rendell fans and literary crime readers who know what they're getting into will find it a late-career pleasure.