Brian Ball – Witchfinder: The Evil at Monteine

Brian Ball – Witchfinder: The Evil at Monteine (Mayflower, 1977)

“When Richard was offered the chance to work for millionaire recluse Simon Miaolo, Anne was pleased for her fiancé’s career.

But as time went by, he seemed to become a prisoner at Monteine Castle, Miaolo’s feudal headquarters.

Slowly, Anne began to realize that Richard – and she – were being manipulated by a master of Evil in a hideous satanic ritual of sacrifice and renewal as old as time.

That was when, like others before her, she turned to Ruane the Witchfinder. A man who would listen. A man waging his own private war against the Devil.”

Thanks to Severance of Vault for the cover scan and blurb (again!) 

Brian Ball – Witchfinder: The Mark of the Beast

Brian Ball – Witchfinder: The Mark of the Beast (Mayflower, 1976)

 

“There was Evil in the air at the seance – Evil that was to transform their lives. Janice said she had not changed but there were signs Alan could not ignore. Like the strange mark on her hand, the naked wanderings in the moonlight, the unusual sexual demands. Like the blood stains on her clothes…

And so Alan turned to ex-priest Ruane, a man drained of self-respect, a drunkard, a reject, but still the only man who would listen. A man who knew the reality of the Devil.”

Thanks to Severance of Vault for the cover scan and blurb.

Peter Saxon – The Haunting Of Alan Mais

Peter Saxon – The Haunting Of Alan Mais (Mayflower, 1970)

Witchcraft, Necromancy, Voodoo, Vampirism, Satanism, Black Magic, Sorcery

…. wherever and whatever the agents of occult Evil are, The Guardians are there to combat them with their own more-than-mortal powers. An amusing investigation of a haunted house turns to nightmare as Guardian Anne Ashby is transformed into a sadistic wanton, focus of the malignant force of an ancient curse, and an enemy to her fellow-Guardians!

When his latest purchase Beacon Old Farm in Medway, Kent, shows signs of being haunted, Langford Layton, Playboy, calls in The Guardians to investigate. Steven Kane and Father Dyball accompany him down to the crumbling mansion but Gideon Cross initially dissuades Anne from joining them on account of that particular part of Kent being dangerous for her. This may or may not have something to do with a witch named ‘Anne Ashby’ having been burnt there during Cromwell’s time. Anne displays a snap of temper at the leader and eventually gets her own way, slips on her best miniskirt and zooms down South. Her colleagues are amazed at her aggressive vamping of Layton who really isn’t her type at all (nobody is), but soon she’s slipped off her jodhpurs for some soulless outdoor sex with their moneybags client and is generally acting out of character. Could it be something to do with the ghostly disembodied face that appears to Dyball beseeching his aid?

A very busy plot with plenty of mysterious goings-on: why is there no record of any ‘Langford Layton’? What does the voyeuristic sexton Pauncefoot know that he’s not letting on? Did the previous owner, General Quinn, dabble in black magic? What’s up with Anne?

Richard Lewis – Rabid

Richard Lewis – Rabid (Mayflower, 1977: 1978)

You can’t trust your mother … your best friend … the neighbour next door. One minute they’re perfectly normal, the next – RABID