The Brampton Witch Murders (The Samuel Pepys Mysteries Book 1)
England, September 1666, and the diarist and naval officer Samuel Pepys has two immediate and serious problems to contend with. Not only has a fire taken hold in parts of London’s City, but Pepys’ sister Paulina has been accused of witchcraft in his family home in the village of Brampton in Cambridgeshire. Even though the main tide of witchcraft accusations has now declined, Paulina’s challenger is Simon Hopkins, son of the notorious Matthew Hopkins, self-termed witch-finder general, who terrorised the eastern counties of England 25 years ago or so in seeking out witchcraft and ensuring the so-called perpetrators were subject to trial and harshly punished. Pepys sends two of his trusted staff to investigate the accusations, associate and employer Jacob Standish and, oddly enough, a housemaid Abigail Harcourt. But Abigail has abilities well beyond her lowly servant status. In Brampton, the two investigators find all sorts of threats, deceptions and murder as they attempt to discover the cause of these baseless accusations before the arrival of the feared witch-finder.
The historical content is well researched and presented, and the writer goes to great pains to ensure the authenticity of names and to attempt an approximate imitation of 17th-century speech. However, the narrative is often rather naïve and lacking that essential degree of capability and credibility to allow the reader to become wholly immersed in the story. In short, it is not terribly well written and would certainly benefit from some editorial assistance.
