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The Sculptress
 
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The Sculptress (Paperback)

by Minette Walters (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
Price: £5.47 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Paperback: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Pan; 12 edition (1 Aug 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0330330373
  • ISBN-13: 978-0330330374
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 56,868 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #4 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > W > Walters, Minette

Product Description

Product Description

‘It was a slaughterhouse, the most horrific scene I have ever witnessed... Olive Martin is a dangerous woman. I advise you to be extremely wary in your dealings with her.’

The facts of the case were simple: Olive Martin had pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering her sister and mother, earning herself the chilling nickname ‘The Sculptress’.

This much journalist Rosalind Leigh knew before her first meeting with Olive, currently serving a life sentence. How could Roz have foreseen that the encounter was destined to change her life – for ever?

‘This is one of my books of the year’ Sunday Times

‘A devastating effective novel’ Observer

‘Awesomely accomplished . . . The plot twists and grips, like an octopus' Daily Telegraph



About the Author

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.


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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars TRUE BEAUTY COMES WRAPPED IN DIFFERENT PACKAGES..., 11 Nov 2002
By Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
This is an intriguing, well written mystery which garnered the 1994 Edgar Award for best novel of the year for British writer, Minette Walters, who has written quite a number of excellent books. She is a writer in the tradition of that other great British novelist, Ruth Rendell, known also as Barbara Vine. The comparison by those who are familiar with the works of both Ms. Walters and Ms. Rendell is inescapable.

This book revolves around two main stories that become by necessity intertwined. One is that of a morbidly obese, young woman, Olive Martin, who is imprisoned for the brutal and grisly murders of her mother, Gwen, and beautiful, younger sister, Amber, whose butchered bodies shocked even the most jaded of folks. On the eve of trial, Olive made a full confession to the crime and received a prison sentence of not less than twenty-five years for her butchery. Known in prison as "The Sculptress", she passes the time making miniature, carved, wax images, a delicate and sensitive pastime for one with a reputation for such primal savagery.

Enter Rosalind "Roz" Leigh, a thirties something author suffering from writer's block, who accepts a commission to write about the Olive Martin case. After meeting Olive, she becomes intrigued by her, finding her to be other than what she had expected, and a symbiotic relationship develops between the two. As she delves into the facts of the murder case, and as her interviews with Olive reveal, all is not quite what it seems. The more that Roz sorts through the facts and the more people that she interviews who were in some way associated with the Martin family, the more she becomes convinced that a miscarriage of justice has occurred and that the wrong person is paying a horrific price for the grisly murders of Gwen and Amber.

Someone, however, does not wish her to dig too deeply. With the aid of a former police sergeant, Hal Hawksley, an attractive, though conflicted, young man who is now her new love interest and was also the officer who arrested Olive for the murders, Roz stays the course and perserveres in her inquiry. What she discovers is a complex morass of human indifference, greed, and passion that makes for a compelling and well crafted mystery.

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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent story and very well written, 30 April 2001
By Christine L (Berkshire, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
Minette Walters is a pro when it comes to writing stories that are as different as night and day. What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said? I can think of very few authors who can get me hooked so quickly. I have to admit that I found certain parts of this book a bit disturbing, but that's the genius of Ms Walters. Not only does she provide a couple of hours worth of escapism, but she makes you think a little, and you carry the book with you in your head for the next couple of days or weeks.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A book to keep you hooked, 2 Feb 2002
By A Customer
This book is fantastic. I was interested to see if I'd like it as I don't usually read this type of book but as soon as I started reading I was hooked. The ending also leaves a linguering doubt in you head which is impossible to get rid of!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars innocent or guilty, that is the question.
Olive has been in jail for a few years after confessing to killing and chopping up her mother and sister after a trivial arguement. Read more
Published on 31 May 2007 by RD

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthwhile read
To me this book was a liitle slow-starting as it took a few chapters to really get me hooked. Once the scene was set, however, I found myself enthralled by the many twists and... Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2007 by J. Turvey

4.0 out of 5 stars The Sculptress
Even though I've been a fan of Minnette Walters' books for some time, for some inexplicable reason I had never got round to reading this book, one of her earliest, until recently... Read more
Published on 2 Oct 2004 by Rich Milligan

5.0 out of 5 stars My favourite Minette
This is a classic tale of "all is not what it seems" and "never go by first impressions". I read it whilst on holiday in Spain and was in trouble many times because I just... Read more
Published on 16 April 2003 by C. F. Halliday

5.0 out of 5 stars An unmissable gem
This book is brilliant - the style of writing makes it near impossible to put down. Walters has a real talent for capturing and sustaining your attention. Read more
Published on 21 Nov 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read!
This book manages to keep you guessing right up to the end, an excellent read - if you enjoy it you must read all of her others!
Published on 19 Jul 1999

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