See More From Book Club Friends

Sign up and log in to post, comment and join the conversation.

Book Club Friends is 100% Canadian 🇨🇦

Ruth Rendell
The Killing Doll

The Killing Doll

In a shabby London suburb, sixteen-year-old Pup Yearman dabbles in magic. But for Pup’s older sister Dolly, the magic is more than dabbling. Deformed by a facial birthmark, Dolly desperately wants to be cured, and her obsession with Pup’s magic sends her on a dangerous downward spiral into confusion, madness, and possibly murder. And meanwhile, in a squalid boardinghouse not far away, a young Irishman sharpens a set of butcher knives . . .

Author: Ruth Rendell
Published: 1984
Page Count: 276

This page may include affiliate links.

Purchase on:

Book Club Discussion Questions For The Killing Doll

The Killing Doll
Discuss The Killing Doll With Your Book Club Friends

Do you want to take a deeper dive intoThe Killing Doll? Chat about themes, characters, settings, plots and let’s celebrate this book for our Book of the Month discussion!

Suggest The Killing Doll

More Book Club Discussions

A Better Man
A Fatal Grace
A Great Reckoning
A Rule Against Murder
A Trick of the Light
A World of Curiosities
All the Devils Are Here
An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s
Beautiful Ugly
Bury Your Dead
Glass Houses
How the Light Gets In
How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future
Iron Lake (20th Anniversary Edition)
Kingdom of the Blind
On Tyranny
State of Terror
Still Life
The Beautiful Mystery
The Boyfriend
The Briar Club
The Brutal Telling
The Crash
The Cruelest Month
The Frozen River
The Grey Wolf
The Housemaid
The Life We Bury
The Long Way Home
The Madness of Crowds
The Mighty Red
The Nature of the Beast
The River We Remember
The Rose Code
The Searcher
The Thursday Murder Club
See All Discussions

Highly Recommended Books by Ruth Rendell Book Club Friends

T is for Trespass
The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories
The Hunter
A Last Goodbye
In This Bright Future: A DC Smith Investigation
Fair Warning
Serpentine: An Alex Delaware Novel
Stay Close
The Laws of Murder
Death of a Dentist
Windigo Island
The Temptation of Forgiveness
A Christmas Witness
In Dark Company: A Kate Burkholder Short Story
Beau Death
See Delphi and Die
No More Dying Then
Easy as A-B-C
Malice at the Palace
Depth of Winter: A Longmire Mystery
Kissing Christmas Goodbye
The Last Remains
The Thursday Murder Club
Never Saw it Coming
The Daughter of Time
Help the Poor Struggler
Bertie and the Seven Bodies
The Neon Rain
One Coffee With
I Found You
The Hanging Girl
Strip Jack
A Christmas Secret: A Novel
The Mark of the Assassin
A Christmas Hope: A Novel
The Right Thing to Do
The Last Temptation
The Shadows We Hide
Lay Down My Sword and Shield
The Bone Collection: Four Novellas
Two Kinds of Truth
Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha
Just One Evil Act
Blue Shoes and Happiness
The Masterpiece
Murder and Mendelssohn
House of Correction
The God of the Woods
The Mephisto Club: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
By a Spider's Thread
The Dark Wind
Nothing to Lose
Depth Perception
The Rottweiler
A Cool Head
The Kidnapping: An Ian Rutledge Original Short Story
Postmortem
A Sunlit Weapon
A Question of Death
Fever of the Bone
Cruel and Unusual
The Silent Spirit
Hell and Back: A Longmire Mystery
The Novel Habits of Happiness
The House at Sea's End
The Witch Elm
Death on the Edge: A V.I. Warshawski Short Story
A Song for the Dark Times
Explosive Eighteen
The Spirit Woman
The Black Ascot
Portobello
Set in Darkness
The Trees
The Tick of Death
Live Flesh
Past Reason Hated: An Inspector Banks Novel
Milk and Honey: A Decker/Lazarus Novel
Smoke and Mirrors
Portrait of an Unknown Woman
The Blood Doctor
The Overlook
Triple
Cause of Death
Empress of the Seven Hills
The Ghostway
Ill Wind
The Sixth Man
From a Far and Lovely Country
Death in the Devil's Acre
The Stolen Hours
Girls' Night Out: A J. P. Beaumont Short Story
Nemesis
Defend and Betray: A William Monk Novel
A Casualty of War
Smoke in the Wind
An Old Betrayal
The Son: A Novel
The Beautiful Mystery
Turbo Twenty-Three
Dead Wrong
Do Not Disturb
UR
Stranded
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
Telling Tales
Broken: A Novel
Borderline
Death of a Charming Man
The Last Ballad
The Golden One
Bad Blood
A More Perfect Union
Blue Labyrinth
Cleanskin
Girl in a Box
Brain Damage
Lord John and the Hand of Devils
The Fallen Angel
The Piper: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Story
A Mysterious Season
There Will Be Bodies
Cell
The Late Show
Hunting Badger
The Leopard
Missing and Endangered
Killing Grounds
A Breach of Security
The Blackhouse
Depraved Heart
The Custom of the Army: An Outlander Novella
The Maid
Gone Missing
The Absent One
Patriot's Dream
Transient Desires
The Language of Bees
Only the Lucky: A Kate Burkholder Short Story
Shattered Silk
The House of Unexpected Sisters
One by One
A Place Called Freedom
Savage Run
One-hit Wonder
Big Sky
Endangered Species
Unnatural Causes
The Scottish Prisoner
Killing Moon: A Harry Hole Novel
Catch Me
Plain Truth
Footloose: MatchUp Collection
The Dilemma
A Spot of Folly
Acqua Alta
The Full Cupboard of Life
Safe Harbour
Verdict in Blood
Silent in the Grave
Off the Grid
Skeleton Canyon
Sharp Force
Deep Freeze
A Bitter Truth
Walking Shadows
Heartstone
As the Crow Flies: A Longmire Mystery
Silken Prey
Death of a Village
The Dirty Duck
Reader
Dressed for Death
Jackdaws
Whistle: A Novel
Deep South
The Mysterious West
The Marco Effect
Skin and Bones: A Mike Bowditch Short Mystery
The Love Talker
Wobble to Death
Master of Souls
Evidence: An Alex Delaware Novel
Dublin Murder Squad Mysteries: Books 1-6
Sacred Clowns: A Leaphorn and Chee Novel
Fall of Giants
The Prisoner
In Big Trouble
One Last Lie
Better to Rest
The Boy from the Woods
Be Buried in the Rain
All the Colors of the Dark
Exit Music
Not Dead Yet
Rattlesnake Crossing
Lamentation
Take Out
The Brutal Heart
Dead by Dawn
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Desolation Mountain
Rock with Wings
Just One Look
The Heist
A Question of Honor
Dead to Rights
The Ghost Fields
Why We Die
Now or Never
Death of Yesterday
The Charming Quirks of Others
Weighed in the Balance: A William Monk Novel
Skin and Bones: And Other Mike Bowditch Short Stories
First Family
Thief of Hearts
The Midnight Hour
Pitch Dark
The Lantern's Dance
The Rembrandt Affair
A Whisper in the Dark
The Surgeon: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
Suffer the Little Children
The Copenhagen Connection
Death in Focus
The Tightrope Walker: A Novel
Too Close for Comfort: The Sgt. Windflower Mystery Series
Shell Game: A V.I. Warshawski Novel
Watching the Dark: An Inspector Banks Novel
Justice Hall
Find Them Dead
Rabid: A Mike Bowditch Short Mystery
The Murder Stone: A Novel of Suspense
The Outcast Dead
The Marylebone Drop: A Novella
OverKill
Medea
Return to Sender: A Longmire Mystery
Dream Town
The Spy Coast
Harm Done
Plum Lovin'
The Ice Limit
The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds
The Conditions of Unconditional Love
Guilt: An Alex Delaware Novel
One True Love
Total Recall: A V. I. Warshawski Novel
Rage: An Alex Delaware Novel
No Night Is Too Long
Self-Defense: An Alex Delaware Novel
Abracadaver
This Is Why We Lied: A Will Trent Thriller
Murder on a Midsummer Night
London Rules
Madame Tessier Knows All
The Deep Dark Descending
Silent Bones
Gone: An Alex Delaware Novel
The Collectors
To Darkness and to Death
The Samurai's Daughter
The Most Dangerous Thing
Joe Country
The Mist
Judgment Prey
Book of the Dead
So Sure of Death
Mindgame
The Night Crew
Skinwalkers
None of This Is True
The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2023
Playing With Fire
For the Love of Mike
Heavenly Pleasures
Twilight
Unusual Suspects: Stories of Mystery and Fantasy
Creole Belle
Trigger Mortis
The Three Fates
The Long Way Home
The Breakdown
Shoot Don't Shoot
The Granite Coast Murders: A Brittany Mystery
Hornet Flight
The Dry
The Quiet Librarian
Blood on the Water: A William Monk Novel
Bridesmaid
Quitter's Inc.
The Dark Hours
One Step Too Far
The Highway
The Game
We Solve Murders
A Plague of Zombies: An Outlander Novella
Smoke and Murders
Bittersweet Oblivion
Beyond Reach: A Novel