bernice rubens

The killer's modus operandi is the same in each instance: strangulation, always with a guitar string, pulled tight from behind until life is taken. And though the murders are happening up and down the country, there is one other similarity that Inspector Wilkins can't help noticing. Each and every victim is a psychotherapist...

Donald Dorricks is on a mission. Nine shrinks to go and his crusade is complete. Yet, even after giving himself up and confessing to the killings, he still protests his innocence. And just as Inspector Wilkins struggles to catch the killer, Dorricks' wife Verine attempts to understand the reasoning behind the murders. Then as her husband's tale emerges, it reveals a past peppered with secrets from which Donald had never been able to escape. Until now ...

A black comedy that mixes whodunit and whydunit, Nine Lives is the unsettling story of a very English murderer - a novel of suspense, strangulation and psychotherapy.

'A glorious black comedy...to sum up in three words: wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.' - The Daily Mail