A wealthy English matron is found dead, a medieval instrument of torture over her head, and the investigation implicates one of her few friends, her physician and main beneficiary, Sarah Blakeney. By the author of The Sculptress. Tour.

From Publishers Weekly

Britain's Walters, whose The Sculptress won the 1993 Edgar for best novel, excels at depicting monstrously dysfunctional families and the murder and mayhem they wreak; and old Mathilda Gillespie's clan is a humdinger. The daughter of this bitter, snobbish, nasty-minded recluse is a prostitute on dope; the granddaughter's a schoolgirl being blackmailed into theft by a rapist lover. Gillespie's own past contains its share of feeblemindedness, violence, booze, abortion and incest. When the old woman is found dead in her bathtub, a peculiar medieval device over her head (the "scold's bridle" of the title), there is no shortage of suspects in her Dorset village. Both the local woman doctor, one of the few people who could tolerate the dead woman, and the cynical artist husband from whom she is separating spar with empathetic Detective Sgt. Cooper as they search for a killer. The fact that it takes these very bright people longer to figure out the perpetrator than it does a not-especially-smart reader is the chief strike against this otherwise intelligent and enjoyable-if slightly overplotted-mystery, which is essentially an English cozy with distinctly quirky overtones.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal

Oddly enough, the suicide death of an ill-tempered, snobbish, rude old lady arouses the indignation of local villagers when they learn she willed her fortune to her physician, Dr. Sarah Blakeney, instead of to her own (nasty) daughter and (thieving) granddaughter. Police suspect murder, though, so their investigation creates problems for Sarah. She and her snide, freeloading husband become enmeshed in the intricacies of the dead woman's life-snippets of which introduce each chapter. Articulate and sophisticated prose, complicated plot, imaginative characters, and psychological intensity give this British title high marks.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This book is travelling on the other side of the world for the mystery and tea sweeps.

I hope you will enjoy the book and the teas. ;-)))

Thank you so much Wilena for this book and for the whole bunch of tea that came with it :)

Another good read from Minette Walters :)

Travelling to the winner of the Books, Tea & Chocolate sweep - Congratulations, I hope you enjoy the book and happy reading!

I 've received this book being the winner on chocolates,tea bags and books sweep.

bookcrossers friends had sent me after m y accident and my broken arm.Thank s
a lot my dear Kitta1