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The Case of the Weeping Witch: A McGurk Fantasy

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This is a sequel to the first fantasy book in the McGurk series, The Case of the Dragon in Distress. Most of the McGurk stories are detective stories about a group of neighborhood friends, but there are few fantasies that involve time travel. The kids can sometimes travel through time by using some strange walkie-talkies (or "little black boxes") that they found at a garage sale. This story involves characters that they met in the first fantasy story but takes place in another time.

The kids are studying the history of their New England town in school. McGurk studies witchcraft trials, and he is outraged at how innocent people could be charged with witchcraft on little evidence and sentenced to death. When their teacher tells them that she has learned that a young girl was once put on trial for witchcraft in their town 300 years ago, McGurk convinces the others to try to use their "little black boxes" to go back in time and try to save the girl. The girl, Hester Bidgood, is thirteen years old and turns out to be the goddaughter of Gwyneth, one of their friends from their last fantasy adventure. Gwyneth is now very old, but she remembers them and welcomes them into her home. A man in their community, Jacob Peabody, is trying to pressure Gwyneth into selling him her property. He is the one who brings charges of witchcraft against Hester. Hester calls herself an "investigatrix," meaning that she is a detective, like the kids in the McGurk organization. She knows some disreputable things that Peabody has done, and Peabody wants to keep her quiet as well as force Gwyneth to give up her property. The McGurk organization is determined to save Hester, but they must be careful not to make anyone think that they might also be witches.