The Rottweiler

By Ruth Rendell

The story centers around Inez Ferry's antique shop in Marlyebone, London - a widow who lives on her late husband, Martin's, memory. After her aunt leaves her a house full of contents she decides to set up an antique shop and converts the space above the shop into flats. The flats are inhabited by an eclectic mix of people.

A series of young girls are being found murdered. The first victim had a bite mark on her neck and so the papers nicknames the killer 'The Rottweiler'. This was later proven to be a mistake, in fact he would rather not touch them at all, but the name sticks.

One of the girls is found near Inez Ferry's antique shop and several personal items stolen from the victims are discovered in the same shop. It is the murderer's habit to steal something personal from every victim. This can be anything from a lighter to jewellery. As only the employees and the tentants have access to the shop it is not a surprise that the murderer must be someone Inez Ferry knows.

I loved the way the author shares the murderer's dark thoughts into questioning why he does what he does, and why the urge to kill struck in his adult life. However, it would have been an ever better story had not the identity of the murderer been revealed so soon. It spoils the rest of the story a little bit.

As always there are a number of sub-plots to the story.

One is the story about a young disabled man named Will. He is being looked after by his Aunt Becky who he relies heavily on for most things in life. She is his only living relative and although Aunt Becky cares greatly about Will, she is longing for the freedom from her responsibilities when it comes to looking after him.

Then there is the story of a group of thieves who end up stealing a safe from the murderer's flat. This particular safe contains all of the victim's personal items and when they discover this they try to blackmail the murderer.

We also get to know Inez Ferry's shop assistant Zeinab who is consistently late for work. She's engaged to be married to two wealthy men; Morton Phibling and Rowley Woodhouse. Neither one knows of the other.

Another gripping story from the Queen of Mystery.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

By Alexander McCall Smith

This is the first novel in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series where we get to know Mma Ramotswe. When her father dies Precious Ramotswe sells the hundred and eighty cattle she inherits and uses the money to set up Botswana's first female detective agency to "help people with problems in their lives".

Rather than just the one big mystery there are a variety of cases, which includes a missing husband, a wayward teenager daughter, a strangely behaving doctor and a boy kidnapped by witch doctors.

With lots of humour the author has managed to create a story unlike any other detective novel I have every read. My favourite book for 2004 and definitely not the last one that I will read about the many mysteries I am sure Mma Ramotswe is about to solve in the future.