Familiar Spirits

There is much that is entertaining in Elizabethan England, colorful and merrie for both Good Queen Bess and her people. But there are matters savage and murderous, too, and it is County Constable Matthew Stock, a humble clothier by trade, and his practical-minded wife Joan who oft must set things right--in a widely acclaimed mystery series as rich in historical detail as it is in suspense.

Three innocents stand accused of sorcery and soon no one is safe....

The town of Chelmsford was going mad with the frenzy of witch hunting. Neighbors accused one another with no cause, hysterical at the sudden death of a townsman and sightings of an apparition of a dead young woman. But Constable Matthew Stock would have none of it. Sensible, down to earth, and aided by the quiet intelligence of his good wife Joan, he doubted the accusers, but was helpless to save the accused. As the village became inflamed with terror, Matthew cleverly began to piece together a deceptively simple tale of innocence and guilt, heaven and hell, to reveal the long-hidden secrets behind the strange bewitchings....