Review of The Scold’s Bridle by MInette Walters

The Scold’s Bridle is one of Minette Walters’ earlier works being published in 1994. It managed to win the CWA’s top, gold dagger award in that year for the best crime novel of the year.

Knowing this, I made it top of my pile of Minette Walters’ books to read and got round to it after finishing “The Tenderness of Wolves” which in man senses was a crime novel.

As usual, the tale is set in sleepy Dorset, a popular locality for Ms Walters. I suppose its easier to set your stories in an area you know well and have lived in most of your life. Some may complaint about the repeating canvasses for the setting of her stories, but I think that at the end of the day in most her books the particular county in which they are set is irrelevant, it is the crime and the way the characters involved interact with each other that form the most important part of the story.

The book begins with the death of Mathilda Gillespie, a middle aged spinster who lives alone in Cedar House, a mansion in the village of Fontwell. At first, it looks like suicide. She is found in a bath of water with her wrists slashed. Unusually though she is wearing what is called a Scold’s Bridle, a medieval kind of mask, used to keep gossiping women quiet in the Middle Ages. This is decorated with flowers and she is also found to have a high level of barbiturates in her system.

In due course, the police begin investigations, talking to neighbours, local people etc. They soon find that Ms Gillespie was not well liked in the village and one or two people may have had a motive to kill her……
In turn, several, interesting, well drawn characters are woven into the fabric of the tale and we find out that Mathilda has been the victim of abuse and rape in her past. Added to that are the diaries she has kept for many years and you’ve got a plot filled to bursting.

The story moves along quite swiftly and before you know it, you’ve reached the end, breathless, not quite believing the denouement.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to the next one in my pile in the bookcase!