Tigerlily's Orchids is a story of secrets, set in a London apartment building. Some are heartbreaking: Olwen, whose only goal in life is to be able to drink as much gin as she wants until she dies. Some are perverse: the caretaker who desperately hides his unholy longing. Some are mysterious: Who is the beautiful Asian girl hidden in the house across the street? Rendell gives us old lovers who may or may not remember each other, a not-so-secret affair, a young thief and the sighing of unrequited love. Of course, there is also a murder....
Rendell offers us a fascinating glimpse into the minds of her characters. Each thinks that his or her actions, no matter how rotten, are completely justifiable, and the process by which they absolve themselves can be amusing--although in this novel, which counts as among the best of Rendell's work, the amusing always works in service of the insightful.
Complex, darkly ironic and elegantly plotted, Tigerlily's Orchids shows that the 81-year-old Rendell continues to ensnare us in her spell. --K.C. Martin, blogger at The Readable Feast