BEVERLEY – Chris Speck’s The Witch at the End of the Lane is a historical thriller set in Beverley in 1794, when the town was driven by tannery work, river trade and the kind of poverty and violence that rarely make it into tourist narratives. The plot centres on a kidnapping and the rumours surrounding a woman labelled a witch, in a community where fear and hearsay can escalate faster than facts. Beckside and the tannery yards aren’t mood lighting—they’re the hard living conditions of the period, and the story treats them that way. The work is filthy, the streets are risky, and superstition fills the gaps left by weak law and limited understanding.
Speck is an East Yorkshire writer who regularly grounds his fiction in this part of the world, and the familiarity shows. The geography aligns with real Beverley. The tannery trade reflects the town’s documented industry. The social pressures—hunger, insecurity, suspicion—fit the historical record rather than gothic fantasy. The “witch” in the story isn’t written as a supernatural figure, but as a product of panic and ignorance in an unforgiving environment.
The reader response has been emphatic. Five-star reviews on Amazon describe the book as “gripping from the first page,” “unputdownable,” “brilliantly done,” and “one of the best books I’ve read this year.” Several mention how clearly they could picture the locations: “I could picture every scene” and “vivid sense of place” appear more than once. One reader who picked it up because of the Beverley setting ended up calling it “a superb historical thriller,” stressing that the pull was the storytelling, not the novelty of the location.
“Chris Speck never disappoints, his books are consistently brilliant in content, beautifully written, sometimes quite raw , adventurous but always with warmth and wit at the core.”
Review
The writing style is lean. Speck keeps the pace tight, the dialogue plain, and the tension steady. The folklore element sits inside the logic of the time—fear standing in for explanation—rather than drifting into fantasy. That restraint gives the book credibility and makes the danger feel real rather than theatrical.
What stands out is that Beverley is shown without polish. Instead of Georgian charm and Minster calm, we get a town where work was brutal, life was short, and rumour could destroy someone. It’s a version of Beverley that most readers haven’t seen on the page, and that difference is part of why the book lands so strongly.
Draw the line under it this way: Speck takes Beverley at its toughest point and turns it into a sharp, fast-moving historical thriller that readers are responding to with clear, enthusiastic praise—gripping, vivid, and well worth reading.
The Witch at The End of The Lane
By Chris Speck.
Buy now (Amazon)
About Chris Speck
Chris Speck is a writer and musician from East Yorkshire, UK.He writes crime thrillers set in Hull, historical novels set in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and seafaring tales set out in the North Sea.
His latest book, Queen of Queens, is a murder mystery set in the legendary Hull pub, The Queens. Young Billie Jackson must find a killer before they find her.
Chris spent his twenties travelling the world — first as a guitar teacher, then teaching English in countries as diverse as Hungary, Spain, and Papua New Guinea — before returning to the flatlands of East Yorkshire.
He also plays washboard in the legendary skiffle group, Black Kes.
Follow Chris on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.speck.7528