Reviews: Birmingham Post

Mike Ripley's Crime File

Minette Walters' ninth novel, Fox Evil, won the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger for the best crime novel of 2002.

Only a brave or foolish punter would bet against her tenth, Disordered Minds, being strongly in contention for the 2003 award.

Mrs Walters is, of course, no stranger to awards, having claimed glittering prizes here, in Europe and in America almost annually since she burst on to the scene with The Ice House in 1992, to the extent that she must have more silverware than most football clubs.

Against all the usual rules of successful crime writing, she has no series detective hero or heroine.

She has created no iconic policemen, such as Morse or Rebus. In fact, policemen rarely feature in her books, as each one strives to be different and she is not afraid to take chances with the way in which she tells a story.

Disordered Minds is not only her latest, but it is also the title of a book, written by one of the characters, about miscarriages of justice suffered by those unable or incapable of properly defending themselves.

One such case involves a 30-year-old murder in Bournemouth and clearing the name of the man convicted for it, but the ensuing campaign reveals minds far more disordered than that of the supposed murderer.

Minette Walters is on a roll at the moment, writing at the height of her powers, and Disordered Minds further cements her place among Britain's crime writing greats, as well as the undisputed mistress of a particularly English school of psychological thriller best described as Southern Home Counties noir.

--Mike Ripley

This review first appeared in the Birmingham Post on Saturday 29 Nov. 2003.