This Picador Classic edition of Minette Walters’ The Sculptress features an introduction by Stephanie Merritt, journalist and author of While You Sleep.

‘It was a slaughterhouse, the most horrific scene I have ever witnessed . . . Olive Martin is a dangerous woman. I advise you to be extremely wary in your dealings with her.’

The facts of the case were simple: Olive Martin had pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering her sister and mother, earning herself the chilling nickname ‘The Sculptress’.

Journalist Rosalind Leigh knew this much before her first meeting with Olive, currently serving a life sentence. How could Roz have foreseen that the encounter was destined to change her life – for ever?