Amazon.com: The Scold's Bridle (9781863738729): Minette Walters: Books

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Customer Reviews

49 Reviews

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (49 customer reviews)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!, March 18, 2002

By

J. Colucci "viviansbook" (Encinitas, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Scold's Bridle: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

I discovered Walters by accident about 4 years ago when I found a copy of "The Sculptress". I loved it and I haven't enjoyed anything quite like it until now.

The Scold's Bridle is wonderful. The characters are dark, complex and quirky. You are never really sure that you know any of them. And yet you can't stop reading about their predicaments. This book was impossible to put down. I think Walters has some of the best mystery characters I have ever read.

I did figure out "the murderer" about 2/3 through the book, so I can't give it 5 stars. But the story alone is terrific. Buy & read this book you won't be disappointed!

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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cat Got your Tounge? Not When It Comes To Minette Walters!, December 2, 1999

By

Karen Bierman Hirsh (Greenwich, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Scold's Bridle: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

The Scold's Bridle is one of Minette's best! When the old lady that everyone in Fontwell hates dies a myesterious death in her bathtub - people breathe a sigh of relief.

Not so for her doctor Sarah Blakeney, she sees more to the death than meets the eye and takes it upon herself to discover the truth behind Mathilda Gillespie's gruesome death.

What the reader finds beyond the main plot is ingenious writing, rich characters and wonderful story telling. This is one page turner that I tried desperately not to read in one sitting - I really wanted to savor it.

All in all a fabulous book!

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Story..., February 18, 2006

By

P. Robinson "Relic113" (Calgary) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Scold's Bridle: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

The Scold's bridle was winner of the CWA crime novel of the year, and after reading it, there is no doubt in my mind that it is worthy of its accolades. An old, crotchety shrew is found dead in the bathtub. Her wrists horribly slit, pills in her bloodstream, and an antique scold' bridle clasped firmly on her head. A medieval device used to silence nagging women in days of your...All signs point to suicide but for the contraption clamped onto her face, and the protagonist Sarah, her doctor, who said the old woman was emotionally stable. The reader is treated to many twists and turns as the police investigate the small town - only to find out that seemingly everyone had some motive to kill her, as she was entirely dislikeable. Enter the estranged and highly disgruntled family all looking for a share of the considerable family fortune, and you have a sure-fire method of staying up all night waiting for answers.

Read this book for hours of unbridled suspense, but don't do it on a night when you have to get up early, as you won't be going to sleep.

Relic113

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars well written but slow
This writer came highly recommended from a mystery-loving friend. It was well written but I found it a bit slow in pace. Had a soap opera feel as well. Read more

Published 27 days ago by voracious reader

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfectly Satisfying Mystery
I rarely re-read novels, but this is one that I turn to every few years when I'm in need of a familiar and fast-paced read. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Jim

1.0 out of 5 stars A Real Disappointment
What I often find disappointing about Walters' books is that she takes an idea -- or some sort of pathology -- and builds her story around it. Read more

Published 9 months ago by JSmalls

4.0 out of 5 stars Another excellent crime novel by Monette Walters
Minette Walters is good. This is the second book of hers that I read, and I must say that I enjoyed it tremendously. Read more

Published 12 months ago by J. Parisse-brassens

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart-Rending Tale of Trauma and Dysfunction
When senior Mathilda Gillespie commits suicide, no one in her village seems to mind very much except her doctor, Sarah Blakeney, one of the few people who'd actually liked... Read more

Published 18 months ago by Debra Purdy Kong

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Artistic Murder Mystery
The protagonist is a woman doctor in an English town whose elderly, wealthy female patient is killed in a macabre way. Read more

Published 23 months ago by carol irvin

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and riviting.
Walthers is a great writer I am only sorry that I did not discover her sooner. I love her rich language, her discriptions of people and places,her character development, her... Read more

Published on June 15, 2009 by Patricia C. Benassi

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book!
Minette Walters is known for the taut psychological thrillers that she pens, and this book is certainly that, but it is so much more. Read more

Published on November 15, 2008 by S. Schwartz

2.0 out of 5 stars Chock Full O' Nuts
The only thing that could possibly rival this book for the number of psychiactric problems per page would be a copy of the DSM-IV manual. Read more

Published on November 23, 2007 by Steven Sabin

4.0 out of 5 stars "Unnatural needs do breed unnatural troubles."
When elderly Mathilda Gillespie is found dead in her bathtub in a ghastly parody of Ophelia, a scold's bridle on her head ("a primitive instrument of repression" used to "curb the... Read more

Published on October 20, 2007 by Luan Gaines

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Inside This Book (learn more)
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
coronet weeds

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Cedar House, Miss Lascelles, Hong Kong, James Gillespie, Jack Blakeney, Sergeant Cooper, King Lear, Mathilda Gillespie, Joanna Lascelles, The Inspector, Jane Marriott, Gerald Cavendish, Charlie Jones, Duncan Orloff, Long Upton, Wing Cottage, Dave Hughes, Mill House, Keith Smollett, Sally Bennedict, Good God, Sarah Blakeney, Hugh Hendry, Paul Marriott, Polly Graham

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