Background
Minette Walters was born on September 26, 1949, in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. She is a daughter of Samuel Jebb, an army captain, and Colleen Jebb, an artist.
Walters has two brothers.
17 Kendrick Rd, Reading RG1 5DZ, United Kingdom
The Abbey School, Reading where Minette Walters studied for a year.
Milford Hill, Salisbury SP1 2RA, United Kingdom
The Godolphin School where Minette Walters did her studies.
Elvet Hill Rd, Durham DH1 3LN, United Kingdom
Trevelyan College of Durham University where Minette Walters received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971.
Minette Walters photographed by PhilYeomans/BNPS.
Minette Walters
(In prison, they call her the Sculptress for the strange f...)
In prison, they call her the Sculptress for the strange figurines she carves, symbols of the day she hacked her mother and sister to pieces and reassembled them in a blood-drenched jigsaw. Sullen, menacing, grotesquely fat, Olive Martin is burned-out journalist Rosalind Leigh's only hope of getting a new book published.
https://www.amazon.com/Sculptress-Novel-Minette-Walters/dp/0312953615/?tag=2022091-20
1993
(Few tears fall when rich, spiteful old Mathilda Gillespie...)
Few tears fall when rich, spiteful old Mathilda Gillespie's bloody corpse is found her bathtub, her wrists slit and the ancient scold's bridle clamped on her head.
https://www.amazon.com/The-Scolds-Bridle/dp/B001Q94PDW/?tag=2022091-20
1994
(In this acclaimed psychological mystery, Jinx Kingsley, a...)
In this acclaimed psychological mystery, Jinx Kingsley, a prominent photographer and millionaire’s daughter, wakes up in an exclusive hospital suffering from amnesia.
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Room-Minette-Walters-ebook/dp/B000SEGMC8/?tag=2022091-20
1995
(Twenty years after stumbling upon a black woman, an unpop...)
Twenty years after stumbling upon a black woman, an unpopular recluse known as "Mad Annie", dying in the gutter, Mrs. Ranelagh continues to believe that the woman had been murdered and spends two deacdes trying to uncover the truth.
https://www.amazon.com/Shape-Snakes-Minette-Walters/dp/0399147330/?tag=2022091-20
2000
(In 1970, Harold Stamp, a retarded twenty-year-old was con...)
In 1970, Harold Stamp, a retarded twenty-year-old was convicted on disputed evidence and a retracted confession of brutally murdering his grandmother - the one person who understood and protected him. Less than three years later he is dead, driven to suicide by isolation and despair. A fate befitting a murderer, perhaps, but what if he were innocent?
https://www.amazon.com/Disordered-Minds-Minette-Walters/dp/033042002X/?tag=2022091-20
2003
(Chilling psychological suspense with “exceptional punch” ...)
Chilling psychological suspense with “exceptional punch” from the Edgar Award-winning author of The Dark Room (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
https://www.amazon.com/Cellar-Novel-Minette-Walters-ebook/dp/B0163BZ1NU/?tag=2022091-20
2015
(As the year 1349 approaches, the Black Death continues it...)
As the year 1349 approaches, the Black Death continues its devastating course across England. In Dorseteshire, the quarantined people of Develish question whether they are the only survivors.
https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Midnight-Last-Hours/dp/176063218X/?tag=2022091-20
2018
Minette Walters was born on September 26, 1949, in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. She is a daughter of Samuel Jebb, an army captain, and Colleen Jebb, an artist.
Walters has two brothers.
A daughter of an army officer, Minette Walters had a kind of nomade childhood constantly shifting from one army base to another. After the death of her father in 1960, Walters and her two brothers were raised by an artist mother who created miniatures from photos to earn more money.
Minette studied at the Abbey School in Reading, Berkshire for a year and then pursued her education at the Godolphin boarding school in Salisbury.
Then, Walters entered Durham University’s Trevelyan College where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French in 1971.
The start of Minette Walters’s career can be counted from her volunteer work in Israel where she served on a kibbutz and in a home for troubled adolescents in Jerusalem.
In 1972, she became a sub-editor in IPC Magazines and occupied the editor’s post at Woman's Weekly Library a year later. She earned extra money by contributing romantic novels and short stories that were issued under the pen-name. By 1977, Walters abandoned her staff service in the periodicals and devoted herself to freelance writing though she collaborated with magazines and journals from time to time.
The first important novel of Walters, ‘The Ice House’, saw publication in 1992 in Macmillan Publishers. Although it wasn’t accepted by several publishing houses at first, the book provided Minette with first acclaim, both from critics and readers. The debut publication was followed by the second novel ‘The Sculptress’ the next year. The title referred to an incarcerated woman, the three-hundred-pound Olive Martin, sentenced to life in prison for killing her mother and sister. Walters’s third novel, ‘The Scold’s Bridle’, revolved around the author’s exploration of a highly dysfunctional family.
The fourth novel by Minette Walters, 1996’s ‘The Dark Room’, again took on psychologically disturbed family relations in its tale of Jinx Kingsley, an heiress who has survived what appears to be a suicide attempt.
The recent titles of Walters include two historical novels ‘The Last Hours’, and ‘The Turn of Midnight’.
(In 1970, Harold Stamp, a retarded twenty-year-old was con...)
2003(In prison, they call her the Sculptress for the strange f...)
1993(In this acclaimed psychological mystery, Jinx Kingsley, a...)
1995(Few tears fall when rich, spiteful old Mathilda Gillespie...)
1994(Chilling psychological suspense with “exceptional punch” ...)
2015(Twenty years after stumbling upon a black woman, an unpop...)
2000(As the year 1349 approaches, the Black Death continues it...)
2018(The book a chilling story of love, loyalty, and deadly in...)
1994Minette Walters explores in her novels such topics as solitariness, family problems, marginalization, justice and vengeance.
Quotations:
"I believe you should write what you enjoy reading. If you attempt to write something you don’t like, you’ll go mad!"
"I got to the point where I needed a break. I’m a very slow writer."
Minette Walters has been a member of the British Crime Writers’ Association.
Minette Walters considers herself as an analytic author who doesn’t follow the conventional traditions of crime stories preferring instead to invent the end of the novel in the middle of the narrative.
A Washington Post Book World writer Pat Dowell once commented favorably on Minette Walters’s ability as a writer, comparing her with two other female giants in the mystery genre, P. D. James and Ruth Rendell.
Minette Walters married Alexander Walters, company director, on August 19, 1978. The family produced two children named Ronald and Phillip.