The Witch Maker (Chief Inspector Woodend Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Sally Spencer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Chief Inspector Woodend Mysteries | Publication Date: May 1, 2004

A village with a dark code for Woodend to crack
It is a great honour to be Witch Maker in Hallerton. It is he who, after years of apprenticeship, constructs the effigy he who burns it at the stake, watched by a jeering crowd. But this Witch Maker only the nineteenth in the 350 years of the ceremony never experiences his moment of triumph. This Witch Maker is discovered early one morning with a length of twine wrapped tightly around his neck.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When DCI Charlie Woodend and DS Monika Paniatowski are sent to the village of Hallerton to investigate a brutal murder, they walk into a nightmare. Hallerton is the home of the gruesome Witch Burning, which occurs every 20 years and re-enacts the death of suspected witch Meg Ramsden, burned at the stake in 1604. Hallerton even has its own Witch Maker, whose responsibility is to make Meg's effigy. The murder victim, Witch Maker Harry Dimdyke, has been garrotted and tied to the burning stake just days before the ceremony. Woodend and Paniatowski meet resistance at every turn of their investigation, and it's only when they link Dimdyke's killing with another murder that occurred at the last burning 20 years earlier that the case opens up. Spencer's Woodend series always features sharp procedural detail and suspenseful, well-developed story lines. Here she adds a surprise sending and a couple of quasi-Gothic elements-- the setting and the sense of dark foreboding. It all adds up to a first-rate addition to an entertaining series. Emily Melton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Spencer was born and brought up in Cheshier. She has been a teacher in England and Iran.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers (May 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727860704
• ISBN-13: 978-0727860705
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,147,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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