The Vengeance Of The Witch Finder

Something evil has taken over… Lewis Barnavelt and his uncle are in England, visiting a cousin at Barnavelt Manor. Lewis quickly becomes friends with the housekeeper’s son, and as the two boys explore a garden maze, Lewis accidentally unleashes demonic forces that summon the ghost of an evil wizard bent on destroying his entire family. Can Lewis fight the maniacal wizard, or will all the Barnavelts perish? * “Chock-full of deliciously spooky details and narrated in a voice that is as cozy as it is ornery, this tale is utterly spellbinding.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “The well-devised plot and the spooky atmosphere will please the series' many fans as well as new readers who like their mystery stories scary.” —Booklist “Satisfyingly hair-raising.” —Kirkus Reviews Books by John Bellairs: The Doom of the Haunted Opera The Figure In the Shadows The Ghost in the Mirror The House With a Clock In Its Walls The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring The Mansion in the Mist The Specter From the Magician's Museum The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder

In 1951, while visiting a distant cousin in the English countryside, thirteen-year-old Lewis Barnavelt accidentally unleashes demonic forces and summons the ghost of an evil wizard bent on killing the Barnavelt family.

First published in the USA by Dial Books for Young Readers, 1993.

Vic, a retired detective, finds life meaningless and contemplates ending it all. However, when he meets up with an old colleague and becomes involved in a murder case, his life changes dramatically. He finds himself embroiled in a sinister and macabre quest for vengeance which has been brewing since 1645, during the reign of the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins. He is totally out of his depth and his previous experience as a detective is no match for the dark powers now surrounding him....

Vic, a retired Police Inspector, had a successful career in the Metropolitan Police Force as a detective but, on retiring at the compulsory age of fifty five, life has become meaningless. He lives alone in a small flat in London, his wife long since gone, another victim of 'the job'. He becomes a store detective, his biggest fear when he was a young policeman, for five boring years. When at the end of his tether, he meets up with Jack, an old colleague from the Police Force. Life takes on new meaning as he becomes involved in the case of the vicious murder of a young school girl in his home town of Colchester in Essex, a town that he has never revisited since leaving as a young man. Who is real and who is not? Both Vic and Jack find themselves embroiled in a sinister and macabre plot of vengeance which has been brewing since 1645 during the dark days of the reign of the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins. Vic finds himself totally out of his depth and his previous experience as a detective is no match for the dark powers now surrounding him . . . .

London, 1880, and eighteen-year-old Luke Lexton is about to endure his initiation into the Malleus Maleficorum - the secretive brotherhood devoted to hunting witches, and the organisation that will help Luke take revenge on the witch who murdered his parents. His final test is to pick a name at random from the Book of Witches, a name he must track down and kill within a month, or face death himself. Luke picks out sixteen-year-old Rosa Greenwood, a witch-girl living in rapidly fading grandeur on the west side of town. She's the last bargaining chip in her family's struggle to avoid bankruptcy and is about to be married off to the handsome, cruel, grotesquely rich Sebastian Knyvet - a powerful member of the Ealdwitan. As Rosa and Luke get to know each other, Luke realises it will be impossible for him to kill Rosa, just as Rosa knows she will bring disgrace on her family if she does not marry Knyvet. But Knyvet is hiding dark secrets - including the key which will unlock the mystery of Luke's murdered parents. Torn between appeasing their elders and their growing affection for each other, Rosa and Luke must each make their choice between life and death. 'Gorgeously romantic.' Amanda Craig, The Times