Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes (UK 2012)

From the Publisher:
November 1978. Britain is on strike. The dead lie unburied, rubbish piles in the streets - and somewhere is West London a black woman dies in a rain-soaked gutter.

Her passing would have gone unmourned but for the young woman who finds her and who believes - apparently against reason - that Annie was murdered. But whatever the truth about Annie - whether she was as mad as her neighbours claimed, whether she lived in squalor as the police said - something passed between her and Mrs Ranelagh in the moment of death which binds this one woman to her cause for the next twenty years.

But why is Mrs Ranelagh so convinced it was murder when by her own account Annie died without speaking? And why would any woman spend twenty painstaking years uncovering the truth - unless her reasons are personal...?

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes. Pan, ISBN: 9781447207986 (May, 2012), 464 p., £7.99.

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes (UK 2010)

From the Publisher:
November 1978. Britain is on strike. The dead lie unburied, rubbish piles in the streets - and somewhere is West London a black woman dies in a rain-soaked gutter.

Her passing would have gone unmourned but for the young woman who finds her and who believes - apparently against reason - that Annie was murdered. But whatever the truth about Annie - whether she was as mad as her neighbours claimed, whether she lived in squalor as the police said - something passed between her and Mrs Ranelagh in the moment of death which binds this one woman to her cause for the next twenty years.

But why is Mrs Ranelagh so convinced it was murder when by her own account Annie died without speaking? And why would any woman spend twenty painstaking years uncovering the truth - unless her reasons are personal...?

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes. Pan eBook, ISBN: 9780330528849 (December, 2010), 1780 KB (ca. 464 p.), £5.99.

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes (USA 2008)

From the Publisher:
A psychological thriller about race, family, and the brutal power of raw emotion.
Mrs. Ranelagh has never stopped thinking about the dead body she found in the gutter twenty years ago, during Britain's Winter of Discontent. "Mad Annie," as she was known, was the only black resident of her West London neighborhood and openly despised by the community. The police called her death an accident, but Mrs. Ranelagh has always suspected it was murder. However, her pleas for an investigation were met with a vicious hate campaign that drove her and her husband from the country. Now, determined to uncover the truth, Mrs. Ranelagh has returned to England, where she quickly discovers a sordid trail of domestic violence, racism and adultery that shockingly could lead back to her own family.

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes. Vintage Books, ISBN: 0307277119 (February, 2008), 369 p., $13.95.

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes (USA 2002)

From the Publisher:
It took a few hours on a rainy winter night for a black woman known as "Mad Annie" to die in a gutter. It will take twenty years for the woman who found her to shape her neighbors' racism, the indifference of the police, and her own rage into the truth.

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes. Jove; ISBN: 051513306X (June, 2002), 365 p., $7.99.

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes (UK 2001)

From the Publisher:
It is November 1978, and Britain is on strike. The dead lie unburied, rubbish piles in the streets - and somewhere is West London a black woman dies in a rain-soaked gutter. Her passing would have gone unmourned but for the young woman who finds her and who believes - apparently against reason - that Annie was murdered. But whatever the truth about Annie - whether she was as mad as her neighbours claimed, whether she lived in squalor as the police said - something passed between her and Mrs Ranelagh in the moment of death which binds this one woman to her cause for the next twenty years. But why is Mrs Ranelagh so convinced it was murder when by her own account Annie died without speaking? And why would any woman spend twenty painstaking years uncovering the truth - unless her reasons are personal...?

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes. Pan; ISBN: 0330373250 (August, 2001), 443 p., £6.99.

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes (USA 2001)

From the Publisher:
From the internationally acclaimed, bestselling author of The Sculptress and The Breaker comes a brilliant new novel.
It is November 1978. The winter of discontent. Britain is on strike. The dead lie unburied, rubbish piles in the streets -- and somewhere in West London a black woman dies in a rain-soaked gutter. She was known as "Mad Annie" and was despised by her neighbours.

Her passing would have gone unmourned and unnoticed but for Mrs. Ranelagh, the young woman who finds Annie as she dies and who believes -- apparently against reason -- that she was murdered.

Whatever the truth about Annie -- whether she was as mad as her neighbours claimed, whether she lived in squalor as the police said, whether she cruelly mistreated the many cats found starving in her house -- something passed between the two women in the moment of death which binds Mrs. Ranelagh to Annie's cause for the next twenty years.

But why is she so convinced it was murder when, by her own account, Annie died without speaking? Why does the subject make her husband so angry that he refuses to talk about what happened that night? And why would any woman spend twenty years painstakingly uncovering the truth -- unless her reasons are personal...?

A complex puzzle of deceit and discovery, The Shape of Snakes is Minette Walters at her most intriguing.

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes. Putnam's; ISBN: 0399147330 (July, 2001), 370 p., $24.95.

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes (UK 2000)

From the Publisher:
November 1978. The winter of discontent. Britain is on strike. The dead lie unburied, rubbish piles hignin the streets -- and in the West London a black woman dies in a rain-soaked gutter. She was known as "Mad Annie" and was despised by her neighbours.

Her passing would have gone unmourned but for the young woman who finds her and who believes - apparently against reason - that she was murdered.

But whatever the truth about Annie - whether she was as mad as her neighbours claimed, whether she lived in squalor as the police said, whether she mistreated the cats found starving in her house - something passed between her and Mrs Ranelagh in the moment of death which binds this one woman to her cause for the next twenty years.

But why is Mrs Ranelagh so convinced it was murder, when by her own account Annie died without speaking? Why does the death make her husband so angry he refuses to talk about it? And why would any woman spend twenty painstaking years uncovering the truth - unless her reasons are personal...?

Minette Walters: The Shape of Snakes. Macmillan; ISBN: 0333748603 (October, 2000), 379 p., £16.99.