Minette Walters and the Meaning of Justice

Edgar Award–winning crime novelist Minette Walters is known for revitalizing the tradition of the stand-alone psychological thriller in books such as The Ice House, The Dark Room, Acid Row and Fox Evil. This book offers an in-depth analysis of Walters’ narrative technique and examines the major themes found throughout her work, including truth and justice, the treatment of children, patterns of victimization, British social issues, body image and body politics, the fashioning of identity, and heroism and evil in society. In addition, it includes a valuable interview with Walters.

Mary Hadley, a former associate professor of writing and linguistics at Georgia Southern University, is retired and lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Sarah D. Fogle is a professor of communication and humanities at Embry-Riddle University in Daytona Beach, Florida. She has 40 years of experience in higher education and she has published numerous articles on detective and crime fiction.

Edited by Mary Hadley and Sarah D. Fogle
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 224
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3842-6
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5122-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      v
Introduction
Mary Hadley and Sarah D. Fogle      1

Truth and Justice
Mary Hadley      5

Soul Murder: Children in Minette Walters’ Novels
Sarah D. Fogle      23

Body of Evidence/Body as Evidence in The Sculptress
Caren J. Town      49

Shakespeare, Scolds, and Self-Fashioning: The Making of Mathilda Gillespie in The Scold’s Bridle
Rhonda Knight      66

A Wounded World: Victim/Victimizers in The Scold’s Bridle, The Dark Room, and The Breaker
Lois A. Marchino and Deane Mansfield-Kelley      88

British Social Issues
Donna Waller Harper      103

The Impenetrable M and the Mysteries of Narration: Narrative in The Shape of Snakes
Tilda Maria Forselius      118

Society, Evil, and Other
Nancy Eliot Parker      137

The Tangled Web of Justice and Revenge: Narrative Devices and Subtexts in The Devil’s Feather
Gerri Reaves      157

Everyday Heroes: Women of Valor
Rachel Schaffer      185

Online Interview with Minette Walters
Minette Walters and Contributors      205

Notes on Contributors      211
Index      215