The Sculptress

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.

Minette Walters is recognized by many as the Queen of the British psychological mystery and for good reason. I would not hold them in the same class as Elizabeth George's fine novels but they are close and for sheer invention, they are superior. It is the hallmark of a great author that they can transform a rather overworked subject (woman chops up family) into an intense thriller and who should be the star but an obese woman who may or may not be telling the truth. Ms Walters's writings remind me of the what the producer said about "The Thomas Crowne Affair" - it was a movie of, for and about adults. That could be said about Walter's writings that have intelligent, complex individuals far from their high school years. In this case, the heroine is a reporter who, through chance and pressure, decides to write a book about a famous crime for which the woman confessed. She is drawn (like the reader) into the real story of what happened and her convictions begin to form almost against her will. Is she being manipulated or is Olive Martin an innocent victim. Along the way we are introduced to another character, a former cop now a restaurant owner and a a quirky romance develops (the best). Walters will most likely never have a hero or heroine walk into a bar, "eye a stranger" and bounce the bed springs two minutes later. Yes, that's the calibre of writing for most of today's movies and books, admittedly easier but such a copout. Instead, her characters develop, think, change and only slowly admit their deepest passions. A tremendously satisfying work - A+

This is an intriguing story about Olive Martin, who is in prison for murdering and cutting up the bodies of her mother Gwen and her sister Amber. Enter Roz, an author who is not really interested in writing any longer. Her publisher gives her an ultimatum and an assignment to write a book about Olive and the murders. She reluctantly agrees and once she sinks her teeth into this task, she is no longer convinced that Olive really committed the murders that she has confessed to. Walters' portrayal of Olive as an obese, unkempt woman adds to the story as she allows the reader to want to believe that Olive is in fact the murderer, while at the same time, the story that Roz is unraveling could perhaps tell us otherwise.This book won the 1994 Edgar Award for best mystery novel and it is no surprise why. The real surprise is how deft Minette Walters is at making this gruesome story come alive. It is filled with darkness, tension and sensitivity to the protagonist. Can Minette Walters write a bad book -- I don't think so. She's obviously a master of her craft.

Again, Minette Walters transcends her genre! This is no ordinary murder mystery. To the delight of any murder mystery reader, details emerge unexpectedly and continuously change the probabilities. But, beyond the shifting views of the truth, the human dramas unfold in an equally complex way. Love, and hate, stories unfold along with the main plot in a sweet and sour mix. Is Olive Martin an abused and confused child hiding in this hideous fat adult body? And, if so, is she essentially pitiable, or horrifyingly evil? And what is the tragedy in the past of this writer which has brought her to this state of sympathy with such an ostensible monster? The book is so gracefully written, and its characters so beautifully and believably drawn that you almost have to pity other authors of the psychological murder mystery; they haven't a chance. Walters is head and shoulders beyond the best.

I've been an avid reader of mystery novels for nearly 40 years, and thought I'd seen everything. But this book jolted me -- and not because of the violence (I've read much worse). Not only is it a gripping, well-plotted story with well-drawn characters and a generally satisfying ending, but also the author grapples with larger issues -- the complexities of family relationships and marital problems; the slippery slope of semi-legal business deals; and beauty, or lack of it, and how it affects our view of people (the obese Olive turns out to be a far more admirable person than her beautiful sister Amber). The 'good' characters aren't angelic, the bad guys are mostly weak folks trying to cover their behinds rather than deep-dyed villains, and both the writer and her ex-policeman lover are 'difficult,' conflicted people -- just like real life. The book isn't an easy read -- you do have to pay attention, and I think some readers' discontent with the ending arises because they expect the author to hand them everything on the platter. But stick with it (read it twice, if necessary) and you'll appreciate just how well done it is.