The Scold’s Bridle: A Novel – Minette Walters

The Scold’s Bridle: A Novel. By Minette Walters. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994. First American Edition. Dust jacket unclipped. Near fine.

The death of Mathilda Gillespie shocks the English village of Fontwell and sets local tongues wagging. The wealthy old woman is found dead in her bath, a bloody kitchen knife within reach, and a scold’s bridle-a medieval instrument of torture used to silence nagging women-over her head. Was her death a cleverly constructed suicide? Or a vicious murder, orchestrated by one of the many people who found Mathilda’s snobbism and intolerance too cruel to bear?