Monthly Archives: June 2022

The Fressingfield Witch

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Laura Freeman's avatarLaura Freeman, author

The Fressingfield Witch by Jacqueline Beard 2017 mystery

This was listed as a thriller but since the killer was unknown, I consider it a mystery. Private Investigator Lawrence Harpham is hired by the church to investigate strange deaths attributed to witchcraft by several of the residents in Fressingfield in 1890 when science is stressed and not superstition. Plenty of characters are introduced who could be the suspect, and the reader follows Lawrence as he interviews and researches the past for answers.

The research takes him into church records dating back to 1639 and follows the misfortunes of Faith Mills, the first witch of Fressingfield. These passages reveal candidly the challenges faced by a woman. Faith was married to a merchant but when he fell on hard times, he killed himself. Left with four children, she moved in with a relative in Fressingfield. Her young daughter is raped, and the wife…

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The Poisoned Partridge

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Lieutenant Hugh Chevis ate his final meal at home on 21 June 1931. Dining on a starter of slip soles, he was looking forward to the main event – a brace of partridges he intended to share with his wife, Frances. It only took one mouthful to realise that something was terribly wrong, and he died later that night in Frimley hospital. Three days passed, and a telegram arrived at his father’s house. Sent from J Hartigan, The Hibernian Hotel, Dublin, the message read ‘Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.”


The sender was never identified; the poisoner never found. This mystery is the basis for Book 3 in The Constance Maxwell Dreamwalker Mysteries.

I don’t know who I am, but he does – and he’s coming for me.

Connie’s life is a mystery, her background unknown, her future unclear. But one thing hasn’t changed – an unusal talent perfect for solving crimes.

A random meeting, a brace of poisoned partridges, and Connie is knee-deep in trouble again. Her life is slowly unravelling, the truth almost in grasping distance. If only she could remember. But somebody can. And he’ll use any means to get to her. Can Connie escape his clutches one more time?

The Poisoned Partridge is the third book in a gripping 1920s mystery series with a supernatural twist. Based on the true unsolved poisoning of Hugh Chevis. Pre-order here for delivery on 26th June.