The Rottweiler - Paperback

The first victim had bite marks on her neck so the London papers nicknamed her killer, "the Rottweiler." He has been stalking the small and diverse London community of Lisson Grove, where Inez Ferry runs an antique shop frequented by a motley collection of eccentric individuals. When the Rottweiler's trinkets start showing up in the shop, suddenly, everyone Inez knows is a suspect, and the killer feels all too close. Enthralling and deeply unsettling, The Rottweiler alternates expertly between the mind of a psychopath and the daily affairs of those living in his shadow. It is a transfixing mystery that only Ruth Rendell could write.

Front Jacket

A series of apparently motiveless murders disrupts the lives of some very different people in Rendell's darkly atmospheric London.
The first victim was discovered with a bite on her neck. The police traced the DNA to the girl's boyfriend, but the tabloids had already dubbed the murderer "The Rottweiler," and the name stuck. The latest body was found near Inez Ferry's shop in Marylebone. Someone spotted a figure fleeing into the shadows, but couldn't say even if it was man or woman. The only other clues are the murderer's penchant for strangling his prey, and for then removing a small token -- a necklace, a lighter.
To make ends meet, widowed Inez Ferry takes in tenants above her antique store. The unpredictable and obsessive acts of the serial murderer begin profoundly to disturb the lives of the heterogeneous little community of lodgers, especially when suspicion grows that one of them might be "The Rottweiler."

"From the Hardcover edition.