The Sculptress (42 page)

The Chameleon’s Shadow

and

The Tinder Box

Chickenfeed

(Quick Reads)

The Ice House

‘Terrific first novel with a high Rendellesque
frisson count’

The Times

The Sculptress

‘A devastatingly effective novel’

Observer

The Scold’s Bridle

‘A gothic puzzle of great intricacy and
psychological power’

Sunday Times

The Dark Room

‘A marvellous, dramatically intelligent novel.
It shimmers with suspense, ambiguity and
a deep unholy joy’

Daily Mail

The Echo

‘It grips like steel . . . Passion, compassion,
intelligence and romance are what Walters offers
with no quarter for squeamish cowards’

Mail on Sunday

The Breaker

‘Stands head and shoulders above the vast majority of
crime novels . . . Existing fans will love
The Breaker
,
new readers will be instant converts’

Daily Express

T
he Shape of Snakes

‘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’

Times Literary Supplement

Acid Row

‘Humane intelligence enables Walters to
twist and turn her plot . . .
Acid Row
is
a breathtaking achievement’

Daily Telegraph

Fox Evil

‘
Fox Evil
is the work of a writer at the peak of
her confidence and supreme ability’

The Times

Disordered Minds

‘A powerful, acute and vivid work from a
staggeringly talented writer’

Observer

The Tinder Box

‘If there wasn’t a recognised school of crime writing
called Home Counties noir before, there is now.
Minette Walters invented it and remains
the undisputed Head Girl’

Birmingham Post

The Devil’s Feather

‘One of the most powerful yet nuanced practitioners of
the psychological thriller . . . always keeps the narrative
momentum cracked up to a fierce degree’

Daily Express

Chickenfeed

‘A marvellous little story, thoroughly intimate
with human nastiness’

Evening Standard

The Chameleon’s Shadow

‘No wonder Minette Walters is the country’s
bestselling female crime writer. But even this label
does not exactly do justice to the scope and breadth of
her gripping, terrifying novels . . .
The Chameleon’s
Shadow
is another classic’

Daily Mirror

For Roland and Philip

Southern Evening Herald
, January, 1988

At Winchester Crown Court yesterday, Olive Martin,
23, of 22 Leven Road, Dawlington, was sentenced to
life imprisonment for the brutal murders of her mother
and sister, with a recommendation that she serve twenty-five
years. The judge, who referred to Martin as ‘a
monster without a grain of humanity’, said that nothing
could excuse the savagery she had shown to two defenceless
women. The murder of a mother by her daughter
was the most unnatural of crimes and demanded the
strongest penalty that the law could impose. The murder
of a sister by a sister was no less heinous. ‘Martin’s
butchery of the bodies,’ he went on, ‘was an unforgivable
and barbarous desecration that will rank in the annals of
crime as an act of supreme evil.’ Martin showed no
emotion as sentence was passed. . .

Ground-floor plan of Number 22 Leven Road, Dawlington,
Southampton, as it was at the time of the murders.
Drawn by the present owner for Miss Rosalind Leigh.

AT 5.30 ON
a dark and frosty winter morning the
Sculptress walked free from the gates of her prison, two
hours earlier than the time announced to the press.
She had sought and obtained permission to slip back
into society well away from the glare of publicity that
had surrounded the release of other celebrated cases
of wrongful imprisonment. Roz and Sister Bridget,
alerted by telephone, stood outside in the lamplight,
stamping their feet and blowing on their hands. They
smiled in welcome as the Judas door opened.

Only Hal, sheltering ten yards away in the warmth
of the car, saw the look of gloating triumph that swept
briefly over Olive’s face as she put her arms around
the two women and lifted them bodily into the air.
He recalled some words that he’d had stencilled on
his desk when he was still a policeman. ‘
Truth lies
within a little and certain compass, but error is
immense.
’

For no apparent reason, he shivered.

First published 1993 by Macmillan

First published in 1994 by Pan Books

This edition published in 2008 by Pan Books

This electronic edition published 2010 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-0-330-52877-1 PDF
ISBN 978-0-330-52875-7 EPUB

Copyright © Minette Walters 1993

The right of Minette Walters to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc, for permission to quote from
Encyclopaedia Britannica
, 15th edition, 1992, 12:535

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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