The Ice House [Hardcover]

Minette Walters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1992

Content to live their genteel and sheltered life at Streech Manor, their family estate, sisters Phoebe, Diana, and Anne suddenly find their sanctuary violated by a discovery of a corpse in the estate's ice-house. A first novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Walter's zinger of a debut deftly dissects the lives of three reclusive English women who become the subject of censure and speculation during a murder investigation. After a rotting corpse is found in the ice house of Streech Grange, Chief Inspector Walsh sets out at once to prove it is the body of David Maybury, whom wife Phoebe was suspected of murdering when he was reported missing years earlier. Since no body was ever found, Walsh deduces that Maybury returned and was killed by Phoebe or one of her friends, Anne and Diane, who live with her at the Grange. Detective Sgt. Alan McLoughlin, however, isn't so sure, especially after the coroner says the dead man was older than David and the local belief that the three women are a lesbian menage a trois turns out to be untrue. But McLoughlin can't understand why the Grange's residents make the investigation so difficult by refusing to answer questions and sometimes openly lying. Walters skillfully brings together the relationships between the women and the policemen into a complicated but believable puzzle, which she solves with panache.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Ten years ago, Phoebe Maybury's hateful husband David disappeared from Streech Grange after his wife caught him in bed with their traumatized daughter Jane. Now a naked, unidentifiable corpse has been discovered in the icehouse on the Grange, and Inspectors Walsh and McLoughlin have to decide whose it is, whether he was murdered, and who killed him. The cozy British setup is countered by an unremitting ferocity of tone, as Walsh--who planted the story years ago that Phoebe killed her husband--and McLoughlin slug it out with Phoebe and her aggressively lesbian companions, interior designer Diana Goode and magazine writer Anne Cattrell. For good measure, McLoughlin, stung by Anne's accurate taunts that he's fallen for her, also tangles with unblushing liar Maisie Thompson, whose husband has done a bunk (could that corpse be his?); with his long-unfaithful wife; with the village queer- bashers; and finally with Walsh himself. Unholy passions seethe inches beneath a proper surface: a brutal, literate debut--especially welcome to fans of Ruth Rendell.(I) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: St. Martins Press; 1st edition (July 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312078013
• ISBN-13: 978-0312078010
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,374,937 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A cleverly conceived, well-executed mystery, July 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ice House: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

What a great book! The award-winning THE ICE HOUSE is a thoroughly entertaining novel filled with some of the wittiest prose and sharpest dialogue I've ever read. Minette Walters is a gifted writer; her narrative is lucid as well as literate, and her characters are flawlessly constructed. There's also a fine plot in this book, with quite a few crafty twists and turns; my only complaint is that a few of the plot strands could not be deduced by the reader. In the sense of the Golden Age detective story, then, I suppose Walters "cheated" a bit. Nonetheless, THE ICE HOUSE is such a gloriously savory dish it's quite overlookable. Lovers of P.D. James and Ruth Rendell will undoubtedly enjoy the work of this hot new British author. One down, five to go. Next stop: THE SCULPTRESS...

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A gem of a murder mystery, December 5, 2002

By 

Fanoula Sevastos (Lyndhurst, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ice House: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a gem of a novel, a well-crafted story of mystery filled with wonderful characters. Three women: Phoebe, Anne and Diane - a coven of lesbians, according to gossip- live in a manor house, secluded. Three murders: Phoebe's parents who died in a car crash many years ago; Phoebe's husband who disappeared 10 years ago, and whose body was never found; and a newly discovered body in the ice house on Phoebe's property. But were all of these, or any of these actually murders? And who is the man in the Ice House and how did he get there? This is a page-turner that has as much to do with discovering the complexities of the three women as who if anyone has been murdered and by whom. Add to that a couple of overzealous detectives - one chief inspector who is convinced of Phoebe's guilt and one detective sergeant who is driven by both the charms and the mysteries of the women, especially Anne. One of the best I've read this year.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A riveting read couldnt put it down, September 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ice House: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Having seen the Sculptress on TV last year and being an avid reader of whodunnits and mystery novels I ordered a copy of the Ice House. I was really impressed by the characterisation and the story. I became involved with the characters right from the very beginning feeling sympathy for Phoebe and her friends and downright dislike for the policemen. I really enjoyed this book and truly couldn't put it down. I have been looking for a new author for some time as I have been fed up with the formulaic writing of some of the popular mystery authors such as Patricia Cornwall. Finally being an expat englishwomen from Hampshire where the novel is set I found the descriptions of England etc making me very homesick. I thoroughly recommend this novel.