The Printer’s Devil

Alan Bellman falls prey to a trap laid in the 17th century by wizard Roger Southwell. Though her husband becomes a helpless spirit-captive, the dead warlock’s long-laid plans are thrown into confusion by Alan’s wife, the other half of this 20th-century couple, who finds allies in unexpected places – Fabian and Katherine Stedman, two of the wizard’s 17th-century contemporaries.

Sometimes the evil that magicians do lives after them, lying in wait for the unwary. Sometimes curiosity does something far more perilous than simply put your life in danger. And sometimes more than just lessons can be gained from history. The Printer’s Devil is a mix of magic, bellringing, music and the great tradition of the master of ghost stories, M.R. James, and placed in Locus magazine’s Best First Novel poll.