What do you think?
Rate this book
Chief Inspector Woodend #11
The Witch Maker
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.
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.
- GenresMysteryFictionProcedural
256 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 2004
10 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Sally Spencer
80 books152 followersA pseudonym used by Alan Rustage.
Sally Spencer is a pen name, first adopted when the author (actually called Alan Rustage) was writing sagas and it was almost obligatory that a woman's name appeared on the cover (other authors like Emma Blair and Mary Jane Staples are also men).
Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a teacher. In 1978-79 he was working in Iran and witnessed the fall of the Shah (see the Blog for what it was like to live through a revolution). He got used to having rifles - and, one occasion, a rocket launcher - pointed at him by both soldiers and revolutionaries, but he was never entirely comfortable with it.
He lived in Madrid for over twenty years, and still considers it the most interesting and exciting city he has ever visited, but for the last few years he has opted for a quieter life in the seaside town of Calpe, on the Costa Blanca.
His first series of books were historical sagas set in Cheshire (where he grew up) and London. They were very popular with his English readers, but his American readers find the dialect something of a strain.
He has written twenty books featuring DCI Woodend (a character based partly on a furniture dealer he used to play dominoes with) and ten (so far!) about Woodend's protegé Monika Paniatowski.
His DI Sam Blackstone books are set in Victorian/Edwardian London, New York and Russia, and the Inspector Paco Ruiz books have as their backdrop the Spanish Civil War.
Alan is a competitive games player who likes bridge and pub quizzes. It is only by enforcing iron discipline that he doesn't play video games all the time.
He now lives on Spain's Costa Blanca.
Sally Spencer is a pen name, first adopted when the author (actually called Alan Rustage) was writing sagas and it was almost obligatory that a woman's name appeared on the cover (other authors like Emma Blair and Mary Jane Staples are also men).
Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a teacher. In 1978-79 he was working in Iran and witnessed the fall of the Shah (see the Blog for what it was like to live through a revolution). He got used to having rifles - and, one occasion, a rocket launcher - pointed at him by both soldiers and revolutionaries, but he was never entirely comfortable with it.
He lived in Madrid for over twenty years, and still considers it the most interesting and exciting city he has ever visited, but for the last few years he has opted for a quieter life in the seaside town of Calpe, on the Costa Blanca.
His first series of books were historical sagas set in Cheshire (where he grew up) and London. They were very popular with his English readers, but his American readers find the dialect something of a strain.
He has written twenty books featuring DCI Woodend (a character based partly on a furniture dealer he used to play dominoes with) and ten (so far!) about Woodend's protegé Monika Paniatowski.
His DI Sam Blackstone books are set in Victorian/Edwardian London, New York and Russia, and the Inspector Paco Ruiz books have as their backdrop the Spanish Civil War.
Alan is a competitive games player who likes bridge and pub quizzes. It is only by enforcing iron discipline that he doesn't play video games all the time.
He now lives on Spain's Costa Blanca.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 31, 2019
Enjoyable read, yet not my favorite in this series. I found it difficult to connect with the characters in this read. The mystery itself was interesting and had its share of twists and turns. The main characters in the series were true to form in pursuit of solving the crime.
March 21, 2023
Charlie Woodend and Monika Paniatowski investigate the garroting murder of a village "witch maker". In this village, where 350 years earlier a woman alleged to be a witch was burned at the stake, to show they were not ashamed of that act, the villages re-enact the burning every 20 years. One of the descendants of the men who were hanged for burning the witch becomes the "witch maker" and devotes all his energy and time to making a perfect effigy of the witch. He is revered and allowed many liberties in exchange for devoting his life to this action. So why was this revered man murdered in the village?
October 27, 2021
It’s a Roller Coaster…or a Ferris Wheel of a mystery
Always those twists and motives you’d be hard pressed to think of, this writer really knows how to surprise up until the very end.
Always those twists and motives you’d be hard pressed to think of, this writer really knows how to surprise up until the very end.
May 29, 2020
This was interesting. Maybe the weirdest premise of a procedural I've ever read?
March 8, 2023
Reading these in order and have enjoyed them until now. A little on the bizarre side.
February 20, 2010
In this Inspector Woodend novel a Witch Maker is murdered. The Witch Maker has a pretty elaborate description so I'll leave it up to you to investigate. The book is set in a small village that hasn't changed much in 350 years. The series is also based in the late 50s and early 60s so they are all filled with real life history throughout the books.
May 23, 2016
I like Monika less and less with every book.
April 4, 2017
The Witch Maker by Sally Spencer
DCI Woodend series Book #11
4.5 Stars
From The Book:
To be Witch Makers in the moorland village of Hallerton is both a great honor and a heavy burden. But this Witch Maker never lives to witness his moment of triumph and is discovered tied to the Witching Post early one morning with a length of twine wrapped tightly around his neck. Will DCI Charlie Woodend solve this mystery?
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this book much more than I had thought I would. Sally Spenser did an outstanding job of portraying the small village and the strangeness of the people that inhabited it. The reader felt that they had been dropped into a time capsule and transported back 350 years. It seems that DCI Woodend and his Sergeant Monika Paniatowski also had that feeling...but while they were sorting out how to handle this case...another...seeming unrelated murder is dropped on their plates.
The story features a suspenseful and well-developed story line. A surprise ending and several semi-Gothic elements along with quaint setting and the sense of dark foreboding...all adds up to a first rate mystery.
DCI Woodend series Book #11
4.5 Stars
From The Book:
To be Witch Makers in the moorland village of Hallerton is both a great honor and a heavy burden. But this Witch Maker never lives to witness his moment of triumph and is discovered tied to the Witching Post early one morning with a length of twine wrapped tightly around his neck. Will DCI Charlie Woodend solve this mystery?
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this book much more than I had thought I would. Sally Spenser did an outstanding job of portraying the small village and the strangeness of the people that inhabited it. The reader felt that they had been dropped into a time capsule and transported back 350 years. It seems that DCI Woodend and his Sergeant Monika Paniatowski also had that feeling...but while they were sorting out how to handle this case...another...seeming unrelated murder is dropped on their plates.
The story features a suspenseful and well-developed story line. A surprise ending and several semi-Gothic elements along with quaint setting and the sense of dark foreboding...all adds up to a first rate mystery.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews