Born
in Bishop's Stortford, England, Minette Walters was educated in Salisbury
and went to Durham University where she read French and German. She
then became magazine editor as well as a romance novelist. In 1992
she turned to murder and was immediately very successful: her first
crime novel won the John Creasey award
in 1992 for best first crime novel. Her next two novels also won awards:
The Sculptress won the 1994 Macavity
and Edgar Awards for Best Novel;
The Scold's Bridle won the Gold
Dagger also in 1994.
Literary
Criticism
The main characteristic
of Minette Walters' novels is the past. The crimes are usually old
ones being looked into, the heroes have a history, usually negative,
the villains have been so throughout time. The reader is immediately
thrown into the deep end of the book and will not come out until
the end. The result is very dark but realistic, capturing various
aspects of the British society. Walters leaves no stone unturned
even at cost of coming to a conclusion with forty pages to go.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE
ICE-HOUSE
When a rotting,
unidentified corpse is discovered it marks the beginning of a nightmare
murder investigation for the three women living there. But is it
the beginning? Or does the body lying in the ice-house mean that
the police can close an old file?
THE
SCULPTRESS
Everyone knows
about Olive Martin, the huge, menacing woman who carved up her mother
and sister so completely that she was nicknamed "The Sculptress".
But when journalist Roz Leigh interviews Olive in prison, she finds
that Olive isn't what she expected . . . and that Olive may be hiding
something - perhaps even her own innocence.
THE
SCOLD'S BRIDLE
Few tears
fall when rich, spiteful old Matilda's bloody corpse is found, her
wrists slit and the ancient scold's bridle--an instrument of torture
from the Middle Ages - clamped on her head. Matilda's doctor, one
of the few people who actually liked the woman, is revealed to be
the main beneficiary of the deceased's will - and the prime suspect
of the police.
THE
DARK ROOM
Prominent
photographer and millionaire's daughter, Jinx Kingsley wakes up
in a private hospital. She does not remember the car accident. Or
her fiancée leaving her for her best friend. Or the grisly
murders of her fiancée and her best friend. With all the
evidence against her, Jinx struggles to piece together memories
of desperation and terror - memories that will save her or convict
her.
THE
ECHO
When a homeless
man is discovered dead in the garage of a wealthy woman in one of
the richest neighborhoods in the world, journalist Michael Deacon's
curiosity about the case leads him on a chilling journey into the
past.
Twelve hours
after a woman's body is washed up on a deserted shore on the south
coast of England, her traumatized three-year-old daughter is discovered
twenty miles away, alone and apparently abandoned. But why was Kate
killed and her daughter, a witness to her brutal rape and murder,
allowed to live? How did the murderer know that the child was unable
to speak? And why would Kate, who had a terror of drowning at sea,
willingly board a boat? The obvious suspect is a young actor, a
handsome loner obsessed with pornography, who lies about his relationship
with Kate. What's more - his sailboat, Crazy Daze, is moored just
yards from where the toddler is found. But as the investigation
progresses, police attention shifts to the woman's husband. Was
he really on a business trip to Liverpool the night she died? Was
Kate indeed the "respectable woman" he claims her to be? Did he
love her or hate her? More disturbing, perhaps - why does his little
daughter scream in horror every time he tries to pick her up?
THE
SHAPE OF SNAKES
November 1978.
Somewhere in West London a black woman dies in a rain-soaked gutter.
Her passing would have gone unmourned but for the young woman who
finds her and who believes that Annie was murdered, for the police
record the death as a simple RTA.
ACID ROW
Acid Row - a no-man's land where angry, alienated youth controls the streets. Sophie Morrison, a young doctor is trapped at the center of a terrifying siege, with a known pedophile. Young Amy is missing and the mob want retribution, no matter what the cost.
FOX EVIL
A stunning new bestseller from Britain's most exciting crime writer What happens to a village when most of the houses are sold off as second homes, leaving only a handful of full time residents...? Squatters move in... What happens to a family when one of them turns bad...? The rest live in fear... What happens when Captain Nancy Smith returns from peace-keeping duties in Kosovo...? She finds a community at war... But whose side is she on...? And who - or what - is Fox Evil...? FOX EVIL, bringing crime uncomfortably close to home.
Born
in Bishop's Stortford, England, Minette Walters was educated in Salisbury
and went to Durham University where she read French and German. She
then became magazine editor as well as a romance novelist. In 1992
she turned to murder and was immediately very successful: her first
crime novel won the John Creasey award
in 1992 for best first crime novel. Her next two novels also won awards:
The Sculptress won the 1994 Macavity
and Edgar Awards for Best Novel;
The Scold's Bridle won the Gold
Dagger also in 1994.
