The Sculptress

Everyone knows about Olive Martin, the huge and menacing woman who was found five years ago with the carved-up bodies of her mother and younger sister. Everyone knows how she pleaded guilty to murder at her trial. And everyone knows not to anger "the Sculptress" even now that she is safely locked in prison for a minimum of twenty-five years.

When journalist Rosalind Leigh accepts a commission to write a book about Olive, she finds herself wondering what lies behind all these facts that everyone knows. When Roz first visits her in prison, she finds that Olive is not quite what she expected. And if—as Roz is repeatedly warned—Olive lies about almost everything, then why did she confess so readily to two hideous murders?

Roz may well wonder. The deeper she is drawn into the shadowy, disturbing world of the Sculptress, the more firmly she is convinced that Olive is hiding something—perhaps even her innocence. But whom could Olive be protecting, and why?

Desperate to forget the tragedy in her own past, Roz hurls herself into the investigation with a determination bordering on obsession. And when she finds herself attracted to the very policeman who arrested Olive, she begins to wonder if perhaps the case hasn't taken over her life. But nothing can shake Roz from her purpose—not a community that wants Olive locked away and forgotten, not an attack on her own life, and not the thought of what might ultimately happen if she helps to set the Sculptress free. . . .

Minette Walters's The Ice House was called "the most impressive first novel for years" (The Daily Telegraph). With The Sculptress she brings us a story of such power and magnetism that she clearly establishes herself as one of the best mystery novelists of our time.