''The Sculptress'' (1993) is a

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

by English writer Minette Walters. She won an

Edgar Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...

and a

Macavity Award The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' ...

for the book. The novel was adapted as a BBC-TV series in 1996, starring Pauline Quirke as Olive Martin.

Synopsis

Olive Martin – a 28-year-old, morbidly obese woman – was imprisoned for life after police found her cradling the shattered bodies of her mother and sister, having previously dismembered them and rearranged their limbs into abstract shapes on the floor, a crime for which she was nicknamed "the

Sculptress Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable s ...

". Troubled journalist Rosalind Leigh, under pressure from her publisher to produce new material, reluctantly agrees to write a book about Olive and – whilst conducting interviews with the prisoner – gradually comes to believe that she is concealing something, maybe even her own innocence. In her quest to discover the truth Rosalind enlists the help of Hal Hawksley. He is an ex-policeman who investigated the case originally and is still haunted by some of its aspects.

Television adaptation

In 1996, this story was adapted for television by the BBC. The cast featured Pauline Quirke as Olive,

Caroline Goodall Caroline Cruice Goodall (born 13 November 1959) is a British actress and screenwriter. She was nominated for AFI Awards for her roles in the 1989 miniseries ''Cassidy'', and the 1995 film ''Hotel Sorrento''. Her other film appearances include ' ...

as Rosalind and Christopher Fulford as Hal.

External links

* 1993 British novels Novels by Minette Walters Edgar Award-winning works Macavity Award-winning works Macmillan Publishers books British novels adapted into television shows Television shows based on British novels British crime television series BBC television dramas {{1990s-crime-novel-stub