From Publishers Weekly
Walters (The Ice House; The Sculptress; Acid Row) is considered by many to be the preeminent crime novelist writing in England today. This psychological thriller, her ninth novel, should satisfy both aficionados of the traditional English cozy and readers who prefer mysteries with a grimmer edge. Walters's dark drama unfolds in the tiny Dorset village of Shenstead, where Col. James Lockyer-Fox's wife, Ailsa, dressed only in flimsy nightclothes and boots, has been found dead on the terrace of Shenstead Manor. A coroner's jury declares James not guilty, but a telephone harassment campaign by unknown persons accuses him not only of the murder but other heinous crimes as well. This unrelenting pressure drives the colonel into a deep and debilitating depression. London solicitor Mark Ankerton steps in to prove his friend James innocent and to clear up the question of just what Ailsa was doing locked out of the house on a freezing night in her underwear and Wellies. His investigation leads him to a nearby group of Travelers-modern-day gypsies who roam the countryside in converted buses-who are squatting on unclaimed land, attempting to seize the property. The Travelers are led by the monstrously evil Fox, whose own agenda is much more complicated than a simple desire for free real estate. Award winner Walters rounds out her novel with several subplots, including confrontations between fox hunters and hunt saboteurs and other small scandals of rural life, all tied in the end to the resolution of the story. The writer's many fans will thoroughly enjoy this hefty, stand-alone mystery, but psychological thriller readers who are more interested in thrills than psychology may find the going a bit too slow and the eventual denouement too complicated by half.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The title of Walters' latest fright fest comes from a peculiarly virulent kind of skin disorder, in which hair falls out in mangy clumps. It also serves as the delightful nickname of one of Walters' main characters in this compulsive page-turner, which puts a deranged spin on the conventional village cozy. The matriarch of a wealthy family is found dead in the garden, bloodstains near her night-gowned form. The chief suspect is her husband, Colonel James Lockyer Fox; suspicion against him grows even after he has been officially cleared by the coroner. From this traditional start, Walters' narrative takes detours: into the worlds of fox-hunting saboteurs and down-and-outers living in a caravan park just outside the village. She also throws in the colonel's attempts to reconcile with his illegitimate granddaughter. All this, against the backdrop of growing community hostility toward the colonel, makes for a novel that becomes increasingly intriguing as the reader realizes how the plotlines intersect. Walters, who has won both the American Edgar and the British Gold Dagger Award, is expert at ratcheting up suspense while she portrays credibly confused and terrified characters meeting their fates. Great psychological acuity in a hair-raising suspense story. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Seattle Times, May 11, 2003
Fox Evil is everything we expect from [Walters]: an insightful and slightly creepy tale of psychological suspense, elegantly written.

Romantic Times, June 2003
From start to finish, the suspense is unrelenting. The author goes from strength to strength. Fox Evil is outstanding.

Book Description
Minette Walters's ninth novel, Fox Evil, set in the seemingly bucolic English countryside, establishes a blistering new standard for contemporary suspense.

When elderly Ailsa Lockyer-Fox is found dead in her garden, dressed only in nightclothes and with bloodstains on the ground near her body, the finger of suspicion points at her wealthy husband, Colonel James Lockyer-Fox. A coroner's investigation deems it death by natural causes, but the gossip surrounding James refuses to go away.

Friendless and alone, James and his reclusive behavior begins to alarm his attorney, whose concern deepens when he discovers that his client has become the victim of a relentless campaign accusing him of far worse than the death of his wife. James is unwilling to fight the allegations, choosing instead to devote his energies to a desperate search for the illegitimate granddaughter who may prove his savior as he battles for his name-and his life.

About the Author
Minette Walters is the author of eight previous novels, including Acid Row, named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Novels of 2002. Her work has been translated into thirty-two languages.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In Acid Row, Minette Walters masterfully crafted a run-down urban hellhole for her setting; with Fox Evil she proves herself equally adept at creating the pastoral milieu of a tiny Dorset village. For her ninth psychological thriller, the top-notch crime writer offers another thoroughly compelling cast of characters, including retired colonel James Lockyer-Fox, whose wife has died mysteriously; Captain Nancy Smith, his biological granddaughter, who was adopted hours after her birth 28 years ago; and Fox Evil, the leader of a band of new age "travellers" who believe they're squatting on a few acres of unclaimed village land in order to establish a legal ownership of the property. (It quickly becomes clear that the travellers are merely pawns in Evil's larger game.) As that story unfolds, Lockyer-Fox's solicitor, Mark Ankerton, sets out to stop a series of malicious phone calls his client has been receiving but soon finds himself entangled in a twisted scheme that involves the late Mrs. Lockyer-Fox and Evil -- a plot that has already caused one death. Although the stakes aren't as high as those in Acid Row (where the lives of thousands were at risk in a riot), Walters builds narrative tension every bit as high in Fox Evil, with a tightly woven plot that keeps you entranced by details of her characters' lives and actions -- and keeps you guessing at every turn. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"When elderly Alisa Lockyer-Fox is found dead in her garden, dressed in her nightclothes and with bloodstains on the ground around her, the finger of suspicion points at her wealthy husband, Colonel James Lockyer-Fox. A coroner's investigation deems it death by natural causes, but the gossip surrounding James refuses to go away." With James friendless and alone, his reclusive behavior begins to alarm his attorney, whose concern deepens when he discovers that his client has become the victim of a relentless campaign accusing him of far worse than the murder of his wife. James is unwilling to fight the allegations, choosing instead to devote his energies to a desperate search for the illegitimate granddaughter who may prove his savior as he battles for his name - and his life.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Leaving the placid charms of the bucolic English countryside to fainter-hearted writers, Minette Walters takes on the grimmer aspects of rural life in Fox Evil -- the gossip of vicious neighbors, the hostilities between fox-hunting gentry and professional saboteurs, the encroachment of New Age travelers on private land, along with the usual domestic crimes of adultery, incest and child abuse. Walters packs all this, plus a crazed killer, into an overwrought but disturbing tale about a proud family that would rather die out than give up its shameful secrets. — Marilyn Stasio

Publishers Weekly

Walters (The Ice House; The Sculptress; Acid Row) is considered by many to be the preeminent crime novelist writing in England today. This psychological thriller, her ninth novel, should satisfy both aficionados of the traditional English cozy and readers who prefer mysteries with a grimmer edge. Walters's dark drama unfolds in the tiny Dorset village of Shenstead, where Col. James Lockyer-Fox's wife, Ailsa, dressed only in flimsy nightclothes and boots, has been found dead on the terrace of Shenstead Manor. A coroner's jury declares James not guilty, but a telephone harassment campaign by unknown persons accuses him not only of the murder but other heinous crimes as well. This unrelenting pressure drives the colonel into a deep and debilitating depression. London solicitor Mark Ankerton steps in to prove his friend James innocent and to clear up the question of just what Ailsa was doing locked out of the house on a freezing night in her underwear and Wellies. His investigation leads him to a nearby group of Travelers-modern-day gypsies who roam the countryside in converted buses-who are squatting on unclaimed land, attempting to seize the property. The Travelers are led by the monstrously evil Fox, whose own agenda is much more complicated than a simple desire for free real estate. Award winner Walters rounds out her novel with several subplots, including confrontations between fox hunters and hunt saboteurs and other small scandals of rural life, all tied in the end to the resolution of the story. The writer's many fans will thoroughly enjoy this hefty, stand-alone mystery, but psychological thriller readers who are more interested in thrills than psychology may find the going a bit too slow and the eventual denouement too complicated by half. (May) Forecast: A national author tour, the success of Walters's past books and her firmly established fan base will lead to solid sales, if not bestseller status. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Nancy Smith, the adopted 28-year-old daughter of loving, well-to-do farmers, has graduated from Oxford and is an engineer in the British army. She is initially wary when the attorney representing her aristocratic birth grandfather, James Lockyer-Fox, approaches her. After she finally meets her grandfather, Nancy learns that her grandmother has died under questionable circumstances and that her grandfather is being harassed nightly with accusatory telephone calls. Meanwhile, a caravan of transients headed by a mysterious man called Fox Evil has taken up residence in a field near her grandfather's manor. This cruel man, who is terrorizing his ten-year-old son, Wolfie, speaks with an upper-class accent and is suspiciously familiar with the family at the manor. After building suspense, Walters (Acid Row) ties up loose ends rather summarily in the last few pages. Still, her ninth novel has an intricate and absorbing plot and features two likable and resilient lead characters. Recommended for most public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/03.]-Jane la Plante, Minot State Univ. Lib., ND Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews