Minette Walters

When a local councillor and an anthropologist re-investigate the controversial murder conviction of a mentally retarded 20-year-old, they're unprepared for the disturbing facts that come to light--and the personal demons with which they must come to terms.

In simple language, Big Sam and Little Sam are frightened by an echo while hiking in the mountains.

Minette Walters may share the title of "English Queen of Crime" with Agatha Christie, but don't expect to encounter Miss Marple in any of Walter's gripping tales of terror. There is nothing quaint about the life of reporter Connie Burns; working in the most dangerous locales, she witnesses wartime violence, devastation and depravity. It's all secondhand observations until Connie sets her sights on exposing a sadistic mercenary and suspected serial killer - waging her war against him results in her being held hostage in Iraq. Tortured, degraded, and then released by the psychopath, Connie flees to the English countryside in the hopes of escaping her captor's reach and erasing her vivid memories of the terror. While she huddles in dark rooms, shaking in fear, struggling to retain her sanity, you won't be able to help yourself from riding the panic attacks with her, feeling her paranoia and remaining hopeful that she can find some sort of justice to come out of her trauma.

Based on the true story of the 'Chicken Farm Murder' which took place in East Sussex in 1924, Minette Walters brings a thrilling interpretation to this real-life mystery. Young Norman Roche gets caught up with Elsie Cameron and promises to marry her under duress. He buys a chicken farm to try to raise the funds for the wedding. But under financial and emotional stress, he finds himself in an untenable situation ... but does he resort to murder to escape Elsie's clutches?

The shape of snakes: "November 1978. Britain is on strike. The dead lie unburied, rubbish piles in the streets - and in West London a black woman known as Mad Annie dies in a rain-soaked gutter. Her passing would have gone unmourned but for the young woman who finds her and who believes - apparently against reason - that she was murdered. For something passed between Annie and Mrs Ranelagh at the moment of death."--Back cover. Acid row: "Is the name of the beleaguered inhabitants give to the place they live. A no-man's land of single mothers and fatherless children where angry, alienated teenagers control the streets. Into this battleground comes Sophie Morrison, a young doctor visiting a patient in Acid Row. Little does she know that she's entering the home of a known paedophile. And with reports circulating that a tormented child called Amy has disappeared, the viglantes are out in force."--Back cover.

Chickenfeed: Based on a true story, this novella follows the tempestuous relationship of Elsie and Norman, Elise's death, and Norman's conviction for murder. But did he really commit this heinous crime? Readers are left to decide for themselves. The tinder box: When Patrick O'Riordan is arrested for murder, fellow villagers turn against him--except for his neighbor Siobhan Lavenham. But as the truth unravels, Siobhan begins to question everything she has believed.