Tigerlily's Orchids by Ruth Rendell

The residents of Litchfield House in London are an odd lot. There's Olwen, whose aim in life is to drink herself to death. Twentysomething Stuart Font loves to look at himself in the mirror and is having an affair with a married woman. Marius Potter is an aging hippie and classics tutor. Rose Preston-Jones is single and interested in New Age healing. Pedophile caretaker Walter Scurlock lives there with his wife, Richenda, who cleans the homes of some of the others. The most normal people are three university students (Molly, Sophie, and Noor) and married couple Michael and Katie Constantine. Taking place over eight months, the reader sees the individuals' lives intersect with both happy and tragic results. Rendell has written another novel filled with secrets, eccentricities, and psychological depth.