[Peter Maxwell Mystery 05] • Maxwell’s Curse

Maxwell's Millennium is not quite like other people's - for a start, it is a year later. After much quibbling with the maths department, everyone calls it an honourable draw and he celebrates as only he can: with his cat, his model soldiers, and his Southern Comfort.

A knock on the door could be Jacquie Carpenter, released from night shift earlier than expected, but instead of a warm girl Maxwell opens his door to find a very cold old lady, dead, and naked to the frosty sky.

As a historian, Maxwell always keeps an open mind, but it needs to be even more open than usual as he faces satanic abuse allegations, rituals, and the classic witch's cottage in the woods. The Devil is loose in Leighford - or at least, someone is trying to make it look as though he is. The answer, though more prosaic, is still enough to chill Maxwell's spine.

'Trow's teacher with a taste for history and Southern Comfort cries out for TV treatment. Trow's touch has never been surer. Refreshing as ever, the characters simply leap off the page.'

Yorkshire Evening Post