Strange tombs

The fourth instalment in Syd Moore's spooktacular witch detective seriesHalloween in Essex and the Mystery and Suspense creative writing course at old Ratchette Hall is off to a satisfyingly creepy start.

But things take a turn for the worse when the course administrator is discovered dead, clutching a marble finger to his chest.

For why would anyone, undead or alive, want to kill mild-mannered Graham?Luckily Rosie Strange and Sam Stone are on the case.

Soon, however, they are digging up more questions than answers: who are the unearthly howls emanating from neighbouring Witch Wood every night?

How has a stone crusader, on display in the church, managed to lose a finger? And, more sinister yet, why is one of the tombs missing a corpse?