Minette Walters lives in Dorset with her husband and two children.
By the same author
The Ice House
The Sculptress
The Dark Room
The Echo
The Breaker
The Shape of Snakes
Acid Row
Fox Evil
Disordered Minds
The Devil’s Feather
The Chameleon’s Shadow
and
The Tinder Box
Chickenfeed
(Quick Reads)
Praise for Minette Walters
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
The 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’
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 Jane, Lisanne, Maria and Hope
First published 1994 by Macmillan
First published in paperback 1995 by Pan Books
This edition published 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 978-0-330-52878-8 PDF
ISBN 978-0-330-52874-0 EPUB
Copyright © Minette Walters 1994
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.
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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