May 1, 2003
DCI Charlie Woodend looks into a 30-year-old murder case that sent, he becomes convinced, an innocent woman to the gallows.
May 1, 2004
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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)
June 1, 2004
Detective Chief Inspector Charlie Woodend (The Enemy Within) confronts a bizarre murder case in the village of Hallerton. Someone has strangled the honored person in charge of organizing the reenactment of a local witch-burning that originally occurred in 1604. Strangely, Woodend meets resistance from villagers, who have experienced a high rate of suicide. Strongly recommended. Spencer lives in Spain.
Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.