Gale Research
The Sculptress won Walters the 1994 Edgar Allen Poe Award for best mystery novel, and was adapted and broadcast on public television in England and the United States.
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
This Edgar Award-winning mystery turns on the relationship between a troubled journalist and a woman convicted of a gruesome murder. (Oct.)
Library Journal
There are many excellent British actresses who regularly read audiobook productions; so with all the talent available, why did the producer choose an American to read this very British thriller? Sandra Burr handles the dialog with an adequate accent but lapses into American pronunciation for the narrative. The shifts vary from distracting to irritating. The deficiencies in the narration are unfortunate because the story is a good one: Rosalind Leigh is a writer assigned to investigate a sensational murder case. Olive Marting has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the grisly murders of her mother and sister. Roz finds the woman to be sane and comes to believe that Olive is innocent. The Sculptress is a compelling tale of psychological suspense that will appeal to fans of Ruth Rendell. Larger collections may consider purchase.-Nann Blaine Hilyard, Fargo P.L., N.D.
Kirkus Reviews
Walters follows her dark debut, The Ice House (1992), with the even more striking tale of enormous, unloved Olive Martin, serving a life sentence after confessing to killing and dismembering her mother and sister. Rosalind Leigh, dispatched to interview Olive in prison preparatory to writing a book about the case, finds her unnervingly unrepentant, but finds as well suspicious discrepancies between her confession and the evidence of the crime scene and other witnesses. More and more convinced of Olive's innocence, Roz joins forces with Hal Hawksley—the retired arresting officer whose restaurant has come in for some mysteriously hard times—to dig up whomever Olive's been covering up for. The search will bring Roz up against some singularly nasty neighbors, a brace of spineless lovers, a supremely dysfunctional family—and a denouement whose horrors are touched with unexpected compassion. Walters brings a shivery mastery to the old-fashioned British whodunit, with plotting as twisted as the characters' secrets.
From the Publisher
"Walters mesmerizes with a sleek, exciting tale...stunning in its intensity...powerful."—Booklist
"A dark, superbly plotted tale guaranteed to keep readers up most of the night."—The Denver Post
"Creepy but compulsive...hard to put down."—The New York Times Book Review
JULY 95 - AudioFile
Bringing the winner of the 1994 Edgar Award to life, Sandra Burr essays a sizable English cast: an impressive array of crazies, cockneys and coppers. When journalist Rosalind Leigh is commissioned to chronicle a high-profile murder, she’s drawn into a web of intrigue. As the capable, committed heroine, Burr sounds carefully sweet, her voice somewhat high-pitched and childlike; as the cop-turned-restauranteur, Hal, Burr uses a gruff, somber tone. This deftly written tale offers a one-woman performance of convincing and compelling characters. One small matter is that Brilliance’s signature music/voice-over combo, which is used to transition from side to side, detracts from dramatic tension. K.J.S. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine
