Author:Jane Stevenson
London Bridges, her first novel, evokes the mood and sheer enjoyability of classic English detective fiction, though it is set in the London of the 1990s. A young lawyer comes across a treasure lost in the Blitz, and is tempted into a series of crimes which end eventually in murder. Meanwhile, a very contemporary cast of characters assembles to confound him. The denouncement of the intricate plot occurs in the Cotswolds, and involves teddy bears, Greek monks, New Age bikers and the source of the Thames, but before we get there, there is humour, satire, social observation, occasional moments of paths, and the scintillating wit and intelligence that distinguished Several Deceptions.
A regular winner . . . as smooth, swift and lean as ever
—— Sunday ExpressAs a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing
—— Daily MirrorThere's a manipulative plotter at work in The Keys to the Street, and it's the author
—— John Mullan, The GuardianPsychologically acute and extremely disturbing, Ruth Rendell’s work is outstanding
—— The TimesThere are quite a few Ruth Rendells: the doyenne of the traditional English detective novel; the queen of the psychological thriller; the celebrated author of the literary thriller
—— Mail on SundayBrilliant and compulsive
—— Evening StandardA haunting, compelling, and brilliant piece of fiction ... Packed with literary allusion and told with a sophistication and texture that owes much more to the nineteenth century than to the twentieth
—— The Times