The Death Pit [Paperback]

As he did so well in his first thriller, The Poison Tree, Tony Strong again takes us into a closed-off world and exposes its most private secrets in his second novel, The Death Pit. Even though the Scottish town of Inverness seems a long way from the rarefied literary circles of Oxford (where the first story took place), both are small town environments that engender gossip and illicit goings-on.

A flourishing modern coven of witches seems a natural part of the Scottish landscape--especially since nearby Babcock Castle was the scene of a notorious 17th-century trial and the burning of Catherine McCulloch, a woman accused of witchcraft. But when the body of one of the women in the coven is found dismembered in a foul pit where diseased pigs are discarded, some of the residents blame the witches and take violent action against them.

Terry Williams, a PhD candidate, has come to Babcock Castle to study McCullogh's papers, and finds herself caught up in the mystery when she discovers a link between the past and the present. Strong is a sly writer who knows how to create sympathetic, believable characters and place them in a tightly controlled atmosphere where sex and danger charge the air. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

When young academic Terry Williams goes to the Scottish Highlands, she's simply intending to edit the letters of Catherine McCulloch, burnt as a witch in the 17th century. But then the body of a woman is found on a farm, dumped into the death pit. She is one of the modern-day witches.

When young academic Terry Williams goes to a remote corner of the Scottish Highlands, she's simply intending to edit the letters of Catherine McCulloch, tortured and burnt as a witch in the seventeenth century. But then the body of a young woman is found on a local farm, dumped in the death pit amidst a pile of rotting pigs. She is Donna Fairhead, one of a nearby community of Wiccans - modern-day witches.

As the forensic excavation of the death pit throws up yet more horrors, Terry's work on the letters reveals that there may have been more to Catherine's death than anyone had ever imagined. And as the present-day death toll mounts, Terry realizes that the identity of the killer may also be part of a three-centuries-old mystery, a mystery whose next victim might well be herself...

Tony Strong
A graduate of Oxford, Tony Strong lives in London and Oxfordshire with his wife and three sons. He is the author of The Poison Tree, The Death Pit and The Decoy, all available in Bantam Paperback.