| |
Books by Minette Walters
"I believe you should write what you enjoy
reading. If you attempt to write something you don't like, you'll go mad!"
 Since
1992, Minette Walters has been captivating readers and critics alike with
her psychological novels that explore the dark heart beating below a calm
surface. Her unique ability to bring crime 'uncomfortably close to home'
has earned her the title 'Queen of British crime fiction', and her novels
have been published in 35 different languages. Her flair for biting dialogue
and razor-sharp characterisations has made each of her novels a consistent
bestseller around the world.
Never one to follow rules, Minette eschews a
series character, preferring instead to have each novel stand on its own.
With a readership in the millions, her fans clearly endorse this break
from tradition. Minette's work has also won crime writing's top awards,
including the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey award for best first
novel for The Ice House and the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best crime novel
published in America for The Sculptress. Five of her novels have been
adapted for television, with a sixth currently in development.
"I may write dark fantasies, but they are never
entirely bleak. There is always redemption through love somewhere in my
writing."
 THE CHAMELEON'S SHADOW
When Lieutenant Charles Acland is flown home from Iraq with serious head injuries, he faces not only permanent disfigurement but also an apparent change to his previously outgoing personality. Crippled by migraines, and suspicious of his psychiatrist, he begins to display sporadic bouts of aggression, particularly against women, especially his ex-fiancee who seems unable to accept that the relationship is over. After his injuries prevent his return to the army, he cuts all ties with his former life and moves to London. Alone and unmonitored, he sinks into a private world of guilt and paranoid distrust...until a customer annoys him in a Bermondsey pub...Out of control and only prevented from killing the man by the intervention of a 250-pound female weightlifter called Jackson, he attracts the attention of police who are investigating three 'gay' murders in the Bermondsey area which appear to have been motivated by extreme rage...Under suspicion, Acland is forced to confront the real issues behind his isolation. How much control does he have over the dark side of his personality? Do his migraines contribute to his rages? Has he always been the duplicitous chameleon that his ex-fiancee claims? And why - if he hates women - does he look to a woman for help?
THE DEVIL'S FEATHER
Have you ever wanted to bury a secret so deeply that no one will find
out about it? With private security firms supplying bodyguards in every
theatre of war, who will notice the emergence of a sexual psychopath from
the ranks of the mercenaries? Amidst the turmoil of Sierra Leone's vicious
civil war, the brutal murder of five women is of little consequence and
no one questions the 'confessions' that were beaten out of three child
soldiers. Except for Reuters correspondent Connie Burns. After witnessing
a savage attack on a prostitute, Connie believes a foreigner's responsible.
She has seen him before, and she suspects he uses the chaos of war to
act out sadistic fantasies against women. Two years later in Iraq, the
consequences of her second attempt to expose him are devastating. Terrified,
degraded and destroyed, she goes into hiding in England where she strikes
up a friendship with Jess Derbyshire, a loner whose reclusive nature may
well be masking secrets of her own. Seeing parallels between herself and
Jess, Connie borrows from the other woman's strength and makes the hazardous
decision to attempt a third unmasking of a serial killer ...Knowing he
will come looking for her... (back to
top)
Originally published in 1999, THE
TINDER BOX has been reissued due to popular demand. A chilling
tale of prejudice, ambition and cunning as villagers react to a brutal
double murder, this was Minette's first – and to date only –
novella. It was commissioned for the Dutch "Bookweek", when
one author's novella is given away with every purchase of books throughout
Holland for a week. (back to top)
DISORDERED MINDS,
explores a possible miscarriage of justice in 1970 when a bullied and
retarded 20-year-old, Howard Stamp, was convicted of murdering his grandmother.
Because Stamp hanged himself in prison, his case is forgotten until Dr
Johnathan Hughes, a 34-year-old author and research fellow in Anthropology,
comes across it by accident and includes it in a book. On the face of
it there is no similarity between the illiterate Stamp and the highly
educated Hughes, but their lives resonate through their damaged childhoods
and mutual sense of exclusion. Set against the threat of war in Iraq and
the unease it inspires in the UK, DISORDERED MINDS tracks Jonathan’s
attempts to prove a grotesque injustice. (back
to top)
 FOX
EVIL, published in 2002, takes readers to Dorset where New Age
travellers, under the charismatic leadership of Fox Evil, invade an isolated
village. Two women with their own evil intentions dominate the seemingly
peaceful village and they have been waging a cruel campaign against a
frail neighbour, attempting to drive him to loneliness and despair after
his wife dies in mysterious circumstances. But when Fox Evil uses the
women’s spitefulness for his own purposes, the villagers realise
they have a sadist in their midst. (back
to top)
 ACID
ROW, published in 2001, is a 'real time' story about a riot that
erupts on a sink estate when a registered paedophile is discovered living
near children. Described by reviewers as ‘impossible to put down’,
the novel takes the reader through a rollercoaster ride of terror as the
estate is blockaded and police lose control. With topical references to
Internet child pornography and the controversial debate on whether or
not to ‘out’ paedophiles, Minette deftly balances difficult
social issues with a fast-paced storyline to create a compulsive read.
(back to top)
 THE
SHAPE OF SNAKES, published in 2000, confirmed Minette’s reputation
as a Number 1 bestseller. Her only first person narration to date, the
book tells the story of a woman (known as M) who embarks on a 20-year
quest to unravel the truth behind the violent death of her black neighbour,
'Mad' Annie. Inspired by the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, which was set up
to investigate the death of a black boy by a group of white boys, Minette
exposes the horrifying consequences when communities ignore the people
who need them the most. (back to top)
 THE
BREAKER, published in 1998, was again enormously successful and
became a number one bestseller in England, Australia and Germany. Set
in Dorset, where Minette now lives, the book explores the tragedy of a
woman who is drugged and brutally raped before being thrown into the sea
to drown. While the Dorset coast forms part of the backdrop, the canvas
is a narrow one, with only three suspects. Each one is portrayed in depth,
and the solution to the brutal crime ultimately lies in deciphering the
motivations that fuel their fateful actions. (back
to top)
 THE
ECHO went straight to Number 1 in London when it was first published
in 1997. Set in the bleak environments of London’s homeless community,
the book is an echo of the Oedipus story. An unknown man, with a troubled
family history, wanders the wastelands of the old docks in the company
of a child. Only when the man is found dead of starvation does the tragedy
of his life begin to unfold. Abandoned by his parents as a baby, he has
grown up to murder a stranger before marrying that stranger’s wife.
When his wife hangs herself, he vanishes amongst the anonymous vagrants
of London in search of redemption.(back
to top)
 Minette's
fourth book, THE DARK ROOM, published
in 1995, explores the psychological results of family breakdown when secrets
and secretive behaviour dominate relationships. The powerful tensions,
created through the always absent figure of one of the major characters
(Jinx’s father), who manipulates the action from a distance, gives
the story a sense of impending doom. (back
to top)
 When
Minette's third book, THE SCOLD’S
BRIDLE (winner of the CWA Gold Dagger Award), went straight into
the bestseller lists on publication in 1994, she said: "Crime fiction
is a very competitive genre with many excellent writers. Perhaps my books
succeed because I concentrate on the trauma that exists within families
and communities both before and after a murder is committed. Well-balanced
families don’t kill each other…dysfunctional ones may. Because
I explore family tensions, there is a greater sense of involvement for
my readers."(back to top)
 While
waiting for THE ICE HOUSE to find a publisher, Minette was already writing
THE SCULPTRESS (published 1993).
"I was never interested in creating a series character because I wanted
to be free to tackle whatever I wanted, when I wanted, without being shackled
to a particular person or place." This refusal to follow the ‘rules’
of crime fiction has made Minette the most exciting and innovative writer
of her generation, setting trends that other authors now follow. (back
to top)
 THE
ICE HOUSE was published in 1992 by Macmillan after being rejected
by numerous publishing houses. It won the Crime Writers' Association John
Creasey Award for best first novel and was translated into several languages
within six months of initial publication. As with her subsequent books,
THE ICE HOUSE creates an atmosphere of claustrophobia and tension
through Minette’s skilful depiction of a handful of characters whose
personalities are neither totally attractive nor totally unattractive.
(back to top)
|
|
|
