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The Sculptress

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 4,054 ratings · 125 reviews

"'It was a slaughterhouse, the most horrific scene I have ever witnessed... Olive Martin is a dangerous woman. I advise you to be extremely wary in your dealings with her.' "

The facts of the case were simple: Olive Martin had pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering her sister and mother, earning herself the chilling nickname 'The Sculptress'.

This much journalist Rosalin...more

Paperback, 480 pages

Published August 1st 1995 by Pan Books (first published 1993)

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Jan 09, 2009 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

A chilling story from a master of the crime/suspense genre. A monstrously obese woman is in prison having confessed and pled guilty to the murder and brutal dismembering of her mother and younger sister some years previously. A writer, who is dealing with emotional damages of her own, is assigned by her publisher to write a book about the affair. She uncovers several discrepancies between the confession and the facts in the case which lead her to dig ever deeper until she finally reveals the tru...more

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Mar 27, 2009 Jean Brodahl rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the scariest, psychologically speaking, books I've ever read. Yes, as you know, I don't read scary books...well, I don't read "horror". I think this book was probably recommended to me, OR PBS had a mini-series and I heard about it that way. It's been years since I read it but I remember not being able to put it down. I will not, however, watch the movie. WAY too scary.

From Google Books: Everyone knows about Olive Martin, the huge and menacing woman who was found five years ago with the...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Aniko Carmean rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Five psychiatrists have pronounced Olive Martin in full possession of her sanity. She is not a psychopath, despite dismembering her mother and sister like parting a chicken for Sunday dinner. Although the police ensured Olive's solicitor was present when she gave her confession, both society and justice were quick to accept Olive's guilty plea. It turns out that no one looks too closely or thinks to hard about a morbidly obese, hideously ugly woman who has professed her own guilt - not even when...more Five psychiatrists have pronounced Olive Martin in full possession of her sanity. She is not a psychopath, despite dismembering her mother and sister like parting a chicken for Sunday dinner. Although the police ensured Olive's solicitor was present when she gave her confession, both society and justice were quick to accept Olive's guilty plea. It turns out that no one looks too closely or thinks to hard about a morbidly obese, hideously ugly woman who has professed her own guilt - not even when there are inconsistencies between the confession and the forensics of the scene that should have raised a reasonable doubt.

That's where the novel's protagonist, Rosalind Leigh, comes into the story. Roz has suffered the loss of her daughter, the disintegration of her marriage, and is about to lose her contract as an author if she doesn't write a book about Olive Martin. The Sculptress, by Minette Walters, follows Roz's investigation, a bit of amateur detecting that leaves many a closet bereft of its skeletons. There are enough surprising twists and lurid details to keep the plot engaging. The truth remains veiled, even after the end of the novel, but that is not a flaw so much as a bold statement about the nature of reality as it is experienced by the Walters's characters. Violence, betrayal, death, and greed pull the strings of reality, and often the characters trying to do what is right end up just as twisted up in the tangled webs as those who intentionally did wrong.

The Sculptress is a detective story, but the heart of the book is romance. Not beautiful boy meets beautiful girl romance, but the more realistic heart-breaking, face-bruising, life-ending romances entered into by damaged characters. Walters gives Roz and her new beau a break in the end, letting them have a view of the ocean as they make love, but given the darkness pervading all relationships in the novel, it is questionable that this love, like the others, is any more lasting or less corrosive than the salty spray coming in off of the ocean.

The Sculptress is the first novel I've read by Minette Walters, and I will be reading more. My only regret is that she didn't amplify the hints of supernatural voodoo being played at by Olive. Or maybe not; now that I think about it, the creepy wax dolls stuck with their pins, and Olive's "look of gloating triumph" does more to unsettle me than any more straightforward explanation could have done.
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Dec 23, 2012 Elaine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Interview with Minette Walters for Russian Mass Media Knizhnaya Vitrina 2005 by Elaine Karpos-Dedukhina

Золотой кинжал Майнетт Уолтерс
Елена Карпос-Дедюхина
Интервью с королевой детективного жанра

Елена Дедюхина: Вы начинали как автор сентиментальных романов, однако всемирная известность пришла к Вам как к писательнице, работающей в детективном жанре. Существует ли вероятность, что позже Майнетт Уолтерс станет известна, скажем, как автор исторической или биографической прозы? И как когда-то об Ага...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Ubik 2.0 rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Di libri (e di film) con questa trama ormai abbiamo fatto indigestione! Un (o una) giornalista ( o scrittore o investigatore) nel parlatorio con di fronte una persona (condannato a morte, all’ergastolo o a tot anni) accusata di un delitto efferato: dapprima c’è incomprensione poi si instaura un rapporto umano: il detenuto è molto intelligente (molto umano, molto timido) e il suo interlocutore deve passare fra alti e bassi per comunicare con lui: inevitabilmente c’è un momento in cui il rapporto...more

Di libri (e di film) con questa trama ormai abbiamo fatto indigestione! Un (o una) giornalista ( o scrittore o investigatore) nel parlatorio con di fronte una persona (condannato a morte, all’ergastolo o a tot anni) accusata di un delitto efferato: dapprima c’è incomprensione poi si instaura un rapporto umano: il detenuto è molto intelligente (molto umano, molto timido) e il suo interlocutore deve passare fra alti e bassi per comunicare con lui: inevitabilmente c’è un momento in cui il rapporto si lacera per poi ricostruirsi; fra un colloquio e l’altro con i soliti clichet: i secondini, le cose che passano dall’uno all’altro, (sussurrate o trafugate) quello dei due che può uscire dal carcere, in genere il protagonista, interroga tutti i conoscenti del detenuto che hanno a che fare con il delitto: smaschera contraddizioni, scopre cose che gli stupidi poliziotti hanno trascurato, trova inevitabilmente testimoni con una memoria di ferro e un’incredibile inclinazione alla chiacchera. In breve risolve il caso e fa scarcerare il detenuto.

Non si possono più scrivere polizieschi su questo logoro canovaccio, oppure se uno proprio vi si cimenta deve avere, non dico due ma almeno una idea originale, anche piccola da inserirvi; invece, al di là delle variabili fra parentesi nella sceneggiatura-base di cui sopra, in La Scultrice (la carcerata Olive si diletta a plasmare figurette ovviamente simboliche…) l’encefalogramma è piatto ed il lettore va avanti per forza d’inerzia con tutta la trama già prevedibile, salvo qualche dettaglio insignificante.

Solo un soffio di dubbio (che salva il libro da un meritato rogo) è nascosto nell’ultima pagina allorché il poliziotto in pensione che ha seguito l’indagine mantiene un’ombra di dubbio che Olive possa non essere così innocente come la protagonista la ritiene, dal momento che l’attribuzione dei delitti rimane non confermata dalla confessione della colpevole.

Troppo poco comunque ed una settimana di lettura sprecata, tenuto anche conto che, forse per il fastidio che la pletora di luoghi comuni genera nel lettore, si ha anche la sensazione che il racconto sia scritto in modo sciatto e dilettantesco.
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Jun 03, 2012 Rebecka rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Rebecka by: Signe-Anita

Shelves: norwegian, crime-detective

Ages ago I saw the movie or tv-series based on this book, and I loved it. I still remember parts of it, and even though I don't really read crime books, I decided that I wanted to read this particular one. However, I think reading it in Norwegian was a mistake. The dialogue felt really weird and void of character (everyone speaks in exactly the same manner) and the use of pronouns and sentence structure just felt incredibly unnatural. I may have given the book four stars if I had read it in the...more

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Aug 23, 2010 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, read-in-2010

When you read a lot of books, it can sometimes be difficult to recall which books you've read and which you haven't. At least that's the case in the time before social networking sites for books. (How did we ever survive?!?)

That's what happened with "The Sculptress." I'd thought I'd read it before based on the novel's description and the opening chapters felt vaguely familiar. But for some odd reason I couldn't recall the twists, turns and the solution to the mystery at the center of the book. (...more When you read a lot of books, it can sometimes be difficult to recall which books you've read and which you haven't. At least that's the case in the time before social networking sites for books. (How did we ever survive?!?)

That's what happened with "The Sculptress." I'd thought I'd read it before based on the novel's description and the opening chapters felt vaguely familiar. But for some odd reason I couldn't recall the twists, turns and the solution to the mystery at the center of the book. (This is fairly unusual for a mystery novel and one of the caliber of Minette Walters' works.)

Years before, Olive Martin confessed to the horrific crime of killing her mother and sister and then trying to dissect them in time to hide the evidence from her father. She wasn't able to get the job of dissecting them done in time, called the police and confessed to the crime. Martin won't pursue a plea of insanity and now sits in prison. Morbidly obese, Martin has a violent temper and mood swings and has earned the nickname "The Sculptress" for the figurines she carves out of whatever she can find.

Enter into the story, Roz Leigh, a former best-selling author in need of a book to keep her publishing career alive. She's assigned the true-crime story of Olive in an attempt to salvage her career and publishing contract. At first, Roz is skeptical she can find a story to tell when it comes to Olive, but upon meeting her and talking to her, Roz begins to think Olive is innocent and may be covering up for someone else.

Roz also has some issues of her own--she's suffering from depression.

The story delves into both mysteries over the course of the novel. We see some parallels between Olive and Roz--both are fleeing from a past they don't want to accept because of pain associated with it. But neither are really living either, just marking time in the world. Both are in a prison--it's just Olive's that is a physical one.

Walters keeps the clues to what's occurred flowing at a good rate. She doesn't give away the entire game in the first few chapters, but she does plant the seeds. Readers will realize there's something more to Roz than within the first few chapters and Walters shows and doesn't tell what's occurred to audience. It makes for a fascinating story and an intriguing mystery.

As does what really happened that fateful day in Olive's kitchen.

One of the early works by Walters, "The Sculptress" shows the mystery writer on the top of her game. One of her best stories.

I'm still not sure why I don't remember reading it the first time...(less)

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Dec 05, 2012 Hannah Renowden rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 16, 2009 Nikki rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: edgar-best-novel-winners, fiction, mysteries, re-reads, books-set-in-england

Out of 50+ winners of the Edgar Award for Best Novel, I had only read 13 before beginning my challenge to myself to read all of them. The Sculptress was one of them. I had read the first three or four of Walters' novels, and then stopped keeping up with them for some reason or no reason. I may have to rethink that decision.

Walters' books are characterized as psychological thrillers, and they certainly do have many of the traits of that subgenre. Unlike some, though, Walters has said that there...more

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Jul 14, 2010 NATUI rated it 4 of 5 stars

First, I want to say that this edition has the cover photo of the candle such as the hard cover does. Why this photo comes up for this ISBN number I am not quite sure. It is a British printing, and even the search for Amazon UK didn't fix it.

I got this book at a second hand shop because I needed something to read in the car. I had not read anything by Minette Walters before, but I cannot wait to catch up on her other novels. This book had me hooked several pages in, and instead of getting a good...more

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Aug 23, 2009 Swanbender2001 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

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Jun 13, 2011 Marielle rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have not read as many Minette Walters novels as I should. I am reminded of this whenever I start one. This novel is surely one of the best of its genre - a fascinating psychological crime thriller.
It is very much of its time, the 90s realism of criminal psychology, full-bodied characters, sub-texts and twists.
Walters gets the characters so correct, so believable, that one almost wonders if she is not a bit of a close psychopath herself. Her understanding of the human condition, and of the se...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Jann Barber rated it 4 of 5 stars

I needed a book to read during a lengthy medical appointment and this was a second copy I had purchased by mistake and put into my trunk with books to donate to the library in the spring. I read it ages ago, and a second reading was just as intense. Walters always writes gripping stories, in my opinion. This one concerns Olive Martin, imprisoned for the brutal murders of her mother and sister. Rosalind Leigh, a best selling author, has been given the task of writing a book about Olive. Even thou...more

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Dec 08, 2012 Cyndy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was her first and was written in 1993. Her style is similar to Ruth Rendell (but with none of Rendell's political opinions thrown in). The story was interesting--a young, horribly obese woman in prision for butchering her mother and sister. In comes a young, (beautiful, of course) writer, carrying her own baggage (a dead child and abusive ex-husband), who has been commissioned to write a book about the crime. One interview with "The Sculptress) and the writer is convinced she is innoce...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Surbhi Ahluwalia rated it 4 of 5 stars

http://surbhireads.blogspot.in/2012/0...

The Sculptress by Minette Walters is surely one of the best a fascinating psychological crime thriller.It's been a while I read this book but I still remember that I was unable to put it down It is so engrossing that I kept on turning pages as to know what will happen next.

The book is about Olive Martin, a huge obese woman who was found with the dead bodies of her mother and younger sister, she pleaded guilty to murder at her trial. Journalist Rosalind Lei...more

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Apr 12, 2008 Ashley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

One of the best mystery novels I've read! If you want a richly complex mystery novel for summer beach reading, I would recommend this book. Minette Walters is a British mystery novelist who has made quite a name for herself. In this novel, Rosalind Lee (Roz) has been advised by her publisher to write a book on a convicted murderer, Olive Martin, or be dropped. Roz has her own tragic past that has kept her from being super productive and decides to give it a go. After her first meeting with Olive...more

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May 19, 2010 Barbra rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a good enthralling read. Good plot with lots of twists and turns. A good whodunnit.

Back Cover Blurb:
The facts of the case were simple: Olive Martin had pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering her sister and mother, earning herself the chilling nickname 'The Sculptress'. This much journalist Rosalind Leigh knew before her first meeting with Olive, currently serving a life sentence. How could Roz have foreseen that the encounter was destined to change her life - for ever?

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Apr 19, 2011 Maria rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: suspense, stand-alone-ultimate-faves, books-i-own, for-rak

This book is a Crime Choice of the Year awardee, and well deserved!

It has a very intricate plot but you won't be confused with the story.

The character of the sculptress is very real. Sometimes i hate her. But there are times i took pity on her. Her character evolved so beautifully from the first page up to the last one.

the author is a superb storyteller. this is the second book i read from her (first one is The Shape of Snakes) and i must say that only in this book did she make a fan out of me....more

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Dec 07, 2009 Don rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

I must have missed something with this one as I'm not sure what all the rave reviews are about. A good read, but didn't seem as suspenseful or scary as some have made it out to be. Still, the mystery unfolds nicely and doesn't resort to pulling out facts that the reader could never have been aware of. I'm not quite sure I get the character of Roz (is she manic-depressive?), though I believe I may have begun by thinking of her as another Barbara Havers.

I'll certainly read more by this author.

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Feb 05, 2008 Celia Powell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, audio-book

I really enjoyed this, although a mystery that involves a violent murder is a little strange to listen to as an audio book. Minette Walters is an excellent writer of (usually violent) mysteries, and I think this one of her best books.

Author Rosalind Leigh is about to be dumped by her publisher unless she takes on a sensationalistic assignment - to write about the convicted murderer Olive Martin, who butchered her mother and sister with an axe. While Roz is initially repulsed by the assignment,...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Mari rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of the best I've read. Kept me wondering til the end and all characters seemed nice and real! Olive was a tricky personality to portray but I had no doubts from the beginning, that one of the masters of psychological crime would play more than well.
It had everything - an interesting murderer, a wonderful detective and a tricky but not too tricky plot.
Keeping it next to me as an example of very very very good crime fiction.

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Aug 21, 2011 Amanda Patterson rated it 4 of 5 stars

There are some authors who have embraced their dark sides. In fact they've embraced humanity's shadow, looked it in the eye and dissected it.
Olive Martin is a grotesquely obese woman who has been imprisoned for murdering, and dismembering the bodies of, her mother and sister.
Rosalind Leigh is a best-selling author who has been asked to write Olive's story.
Rosalind is dealing with her own problems, but she realises that there are discrepancies between the facts of the murders and Olive's confes...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Danette Key rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book kept me on the edge of my seat most of the time I was reading it. I happened to stumble upon it accidentally in the library. I was really amazed at how well the characters interacted in the story. I especially liked how Minette left us guessing where each new fact she found would lead us.
I loved the ending! Great story!!! If you like a mystery, you will love this book.

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Sep 18, 2012 Adriana Bohusova rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads

This is the second book I've read by Minette Walters and I'm delighted. The murders in her novels are on the gruesome side - which I never liked - so it speaks volumes that I chose to make an exception because the writing is so good. The story and characters were intriguing and, I have to say it once again, the writing was exquisite.

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Jun 19, 2012 Frances rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: psych-mystery-gore

I don't care what anyone thinks, I LOVE this author's work! Disturbing, yup. Gory, yup. Dark, dark, dark! Does this mean I'm mentally sick, probably, but I don't mind because this woman knows her ____! Could not put this book down! Thought about it for days afterwards! That my friend are the signs of a great book.

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Jul 29, 2011 Catherine Woodman added it · review of another edition

Minette Walters biggest fault as far as i am concerned is that she doesn't have reoccurring characters, so when you really enjoy a protagonist, that is likely to be the last time you see them. The plot in this is intricately built, with and odd and quirky set of characters, both good guys and bad ones. Love her!

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May 10, 2010 Melinda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Not my usual cuppa, but this was a fairly-well written psychological mystery. Didn't like the romance which seemed forced, and didn't care for the "this is what happened, no, this is really what happened" ending. The last 20 pages seemed messy and disjointed. Otherwise, it is what it is, and not bad for what it is.

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Jul 29, 2012 Astrida rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

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.

This book just drew me in as I started the first page. It has one of those endings where you wonder what really happened.

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May 03, 2012 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, mystery

This mystery is riveting to the end. I literally could not put it down until I read the last page. Along with the satisfying mystery, the characters' development and the depth of their personalities made this a total winner. This is only my second Minette Walters novel, and I can't wait to read more!

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Jun 10, 2011 Michele St John added it

Olive Martin - a 28 year old, morbidly obese woman - was imprisoned for life after police found her cradling the shattered bodies of her mother and sister, having previously dismembered them and re-arranged their limbs into abstract shapes on the floor, a crime for which she was nicknamed 'the Sculptress'. Troubled journalist Rosalind Leigh, under pressure from her publisher to produce new material, reluctantly agrees to write a book about Olive and - whilst conducting interviews with the prison...more

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About Minette Walters

Minette Walters (born 26 September 1949) is a British mystery writer. After studying at Trevelyan College, University of Durham, she began writing in 1987 with The Ice House, which was published in 1992. She followed this with The Sculptress (1993), which received the 1994 Edgar Award for Best Novel. She has been published in 35 countries and won many awards.

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