WALTERS, MINETTE — The Scold's Bridle
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. 1st American Edition; 1st Printing. Hardcover. ISBN: 0312113773. This book is in Near Fine condition and has a Near Fine dust jacket. The book and its contents are in clean, bright condition. The text pages are clean and bright. The dust jacket is crisp and clean. This book is a Gold Daggar Award Winner. " The death of Mathilda Gillespie shocks the English village of Fontwell and sets local tongues wagging. The wealthy old woman is found dead in her bath, a bloody kitchen knife within reach, and a scold's bridle - a medieval instrument of torture used to silence nagging women - over her head. Was her death a cleverly constructed suicide? Or a vicious murder, orchestrated by one of the many people who fount Mathilda's snobbism and intolerance too cruel to bear?" "Walters joined IPC Magazines as a sub-editor in 1972 and became an editor of Woman's Weekly Library the following year. She supplemented her salary by writing romantic novelettes, short stories and serials in her spare time. She turned freelance in 1977 but continued to write for magazines to cover her bills. Her first full-length novel, The Ice House, was published in 1992. It took two and a half years to write and was rejected by numerous publishing houses until Maria Rejt, Macmillan Publishers, bought it for £1250. Within four months, it had won the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey award for best first novel and had been snapped up by 11 foreign publishers. With her next two books, The Sculptress and The Scold's Bridle, Walters won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award and the CWA Gold Dagger respectively, giving her a unique treble. She was the first crime/thriller writer to win three major prizes with her first three books.". Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket .
