Thirteen Steps Down
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Thirteen Steps Down | |
| Author | Ruth Rendell |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Crime, Mystery novel |
| Publisher | Hutchinson |
| Publication date | 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 314 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0091799759 |
| Preceded by | 'The Rottweiler' |
| Followed by | 'End in Tears' |
Thirteen Steps Down is a 2004 novel by British crime writer Ruth Rendell. Its publication in the UK marked Rendell's 40th anniversary of being published, and all hardcover copies of the book had a special promotional notice on the cover celebrating this.
[edit] Plot summary
The novel's main protagonist is Mix Cellini (which he rigidly pronounces with an "s"), a socially-maladjusted young man who works for a company that fixes exercise equipment. Mix lives in an upstairs apartment in a decaying house in Notting Hill, rented out to him by the elderly Gwendoline Chawcer, who lives alone below and spends all her days reading. Mix is obsessed with two things: serial killer John Christie, and a local model, Nerrissa Nash.
Chawcer is a recluse with no real friends, unable to let go of a vague, yet controlling notion that the doctor who attended to her dying mother so many years ago was in love with her, as she was infatuated with him.
