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Minette Walters Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Minette Walters
Vicky Fry

Minette Walters

Minette Walters Biography

Minette Walters is one of the world's bestselling crime writers and has sold over twenty-five million copies of her books worldwide. She has won the CWA John Creasey Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award, and two CWA Gold Daggers. The Swift and the Harrier is her third historical novel. She lives in Dorset with her husband.

Minette Walters's website

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Interview

Minette Walters talks about her life, her work and why she has never chosen to write a series based on one character.

Where did your interest in crime come from?
Two things really. Reading Grimm's Fairy Tales as a child. It's all about baddies getting their come-uppance and wicked stepmothers being rolled down the hill. Then there was the James Hanratty A6 murder case in the 1950s. (involving a man hanged for a murder that many thought he didn't commit). To hang someone with the level of doubt that existed in that case, it was so dreadful. He was one of the last people to be hanged in Britain. I was only about nine or 10-years-old then. But I was absolutely fascinated.

Why did you pick a psychological thriller as your first book?
I have always been fascinated by the challenge that crime fiction represents to an author. I wanted to know if I could carry an intricate plot for 100,000 words, and keep readers guessing, while I was portraying characters under considerable tension.

Why don't you have a series character?
I'm always asked why I chose not to create a series character like Poirot or Rebus, but I was never interested in creating a series character because I wanted to be free to tackle whatever I wanted, when I wanted, without being shackled to a particular person or place.

Of the books you ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Minette Walters at BookBrowse
The Swift and the Harrier jacket The Last Hours jacket The Chameleon's Shadow jacket The Devil's Feather jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Minette Walters but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Kate Atkinson

    Kate Atkinson

    Kate Atkinson won the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Her four bestselling novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie became the BBC television series ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Breaker

    Try:
    Started Early, Took My Dog
    by Kate Atkinson

  • Geraldine Brooks

    Geraldine Brooks

    Australian-born Geraldine Brooks is an author and journalist who grew up in the Western suburbs of Sydney, attending Bethlehem College Ashfield and the University of Sydney. She worked as a reporter for The Sydney Morning ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Swift and the Harrier

    Try:
    Year of Wonders
    by Geraldine Brooks

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