The Killing Doll

The Killing Doll

Author(s)	Ruth Rendell
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Crime, Mystery
Publisher	Hutchinson
Publication date	5 March 1984
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	237 pp
ISBN	0091554802
OCLC Number	10700508
Dewey Decimal	823/.914 19
LC Classification	PR6068.E63 K5 1984c
Preceded by	The Speaker of Mandarin
Followed by	The Tree of Hands

The Killing Doll is a novel by British writer Ruth Rendell, first published in 1984.

Plot summary

The winter before he was sixteen, Pup's Mum died and he sells his soul to the devil. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to get in exchange. For the time being, all he asked for was to be happy, and to grow a bit taller. Even though she was older than Pup, Dolly was always in awe of her brother. More and more, she wanted to believe that he had occult powers and could do anything. Magic could remove the birthmark from her face and make her normal. Magic could kill their wicked stepmother, Myra. Pup laughs when Dolly shows him an effigy of Myra: a rag doll, about fifteen inches high, with knitted nylon skin and rust-coloured wool hair. Dolly sticks it full of pins. Myra dies

Ruth Rendell — The stand-alone novels

To Fear a Painted Devil • Vanity Dies Hard • The Secret House of Death • One Across, Two Down • The Face of Trespass • A Demon in My View • A Judgement in Stone • Make Death Love Me • The Lake of Darkness • Master of the Moor • The Killing Doll • The Tree of Hands • Talking to Strange Men • The Bridesmaid • Going Wrong • The Crocodile Bird • The Keys to the Street • A Sight for Sore Eyes • Adam and Eve and Pinch Me • The Rottweiler • Thirteen Steps Down • The Water's Lovely • Portobello • Tigerlily's Orchids • The St Zita Society •