The Shape of Snakes [Paperback]

In 1978, a single black woman known locally as "Mad Annie" lies dying in the roadside. When a verdict of accidental death is recorded, residents of Graham Road, where she lived, breathe a collective sigh of relief. As far as they were concerned Annie Butts was a repellent alcoholic with a foul mouth. It is only Mrs Ranelagh, a young teacher who refuses to accept the court's decision. Something convinced her that Annie was murdered and 20 years later she returns from overseas with enough evidence to reopen the case.

Although the story is narrated by Mrs Ranelagh, the inclusion of much of the documentary evidence she has amassed including photographs, letters and e-mails, gives the reader the freedom to interpret characters and events for themselves. Motivation remains an endless source of fascination for Walters and the presence of several of Mrs Ranelagh's psychiatric reports, ensures that the reasons behind her commitment to the case also remain ambiguous.

Shape of Snakes is a masterful piece of writing that probes deeply into the mind of an isolated, bruised woman, showing remarkable psychological insight. Using her unrivalled talent for characterisation, Walters examines the ease with which we accept the public persona as an accurate representation of the true nature of an individual. In peeling back the layers of this public face, Walters has created a dark and uncomfortable novel--a compelling read that reinforces her position as one of this country's most skilful crime writers. --Sarah Crawford --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'A complex psychological story with hidden depths.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Minette Walters' seventh novel is quite simply a tour de force . . . it succeeds admirably at almost every level.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

November 1978. And in a London suburban street, a disturbed West Indian woman is apparently the victim of a road accident. Yet the young married woman who narrates this mesmerising tale and found her dying at the roadside, is strangely convinced that she was murdered. This leads to her spending the next 20 years doggedly digging out the truth from what turns out to be a cesspool of intrigue and lies from which some terrible truths finally emerge. Letters and photographs are intermittently inserted into an insidiously spellbinding narrative that culminates in a shockingly believable climax.

'Breaking all the rules of popular fiction, Minette Walters asks as much of her readers as many literary novelists, and yet she offers them a book as gripping as any thriller.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Another intriguing mystery from this top crime writer.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'In just under a decade Minette Walters has built up a reputation for dense, absorbing and intelligent crime fiction. Her seventh novel is as gripping as ever. . . . Watch this woman carefully.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

A terrific example of innovative crime fiction with a new cover treatment

November 1978. Britain is on strike. The dead lie unburied, rubbish piles in the streets – and somewhere is 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 – apparently against reason – that Annie was murdered. But whatever the truth about Annie – whether she was as mad as her neighbours claimed, whether she lived in squalor as the police said – something passed between her and Mrs Ranelagh in the moment of death which binds this one woman to her cause for the next twenty years. But why is Mrs Ranelagh so convinced it was murder when by her own account Annie died without speaking? And why would any woman spend twenty painstaking years uncovering the truth – unless her reasons are personal . . . ?

Minette Walters is England’s bestselling female crime writer. She has won the CWA John Creasey Award for best first crime novel, the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best crime novel published in America and two CWA Gold Daggers for Fiction. Minette lives in Dorset with her husband and two children.