The Witch of Nightmare Avenue

"Horrible History fans are in for a treat as Terry Deary successfully marries together his experience as a fiction writer with his great depth of historical knowledge.
Reading like a Horrible History with a plot, The Witch of Nightmare Avenue is an enjoyable mystery that takes the reader back to the witch trials of the seventeenth century.
Young Katie and her friends are asked to find out all they can about this period. During their investigations they stumble across accusations of witchcraft in modern day Duckpool, and set out to prove them false.
Rarely has a short novel been so crammed full of historical facts and so entertaining. Deary expertly gains the reader's attention with colourful characters and an engaging plot and then proceeds to bombard them with more real history than they could learn in a year full of lessons.
The author does a fine job of educating by entertaining, showing children the value of both old and new methods of research (books and computers) whilst also bringing newspapers into the classroom.
A fine first adventure in this new series, sure to be every bit as successful as the Horrible Histories."

Robert Porter
London, England

Chapter 4 - Dead cats, boots and storms

And that's how we came to be in Nightmare Avenue on the night before Halloween.
The night was dark ... well, most nights are. But this one was darker because the street lamps were all out.
We two fearless Time Detectives stumbled through the rubble that spilled onto the pavement guided by the smell of broken bricks and cracked concrete.
"Where are we? Uhh? " Pete Plank whispered.
"In Nightmare Avenue," I whispered back.
"Katie?" Pete whispered.
"What?" I hissed.
"Why are we whispering?"
"Because ... because ... because I say so ... and I'm the leader of the Time Detectives!" I snapped. "Now, let me just check the message." I said. I reached into my pocket and found ... crumbs from old crisps, a lot of fluff and a sheet of paper. I passed it to Pete because I was holding the torch. "What number is it again?"
I heard the paper rustle in the darkness - though it could have been a rustling rat scuttering over the ruined houses. "I don't know," Pete said. "I can't read a word."
"Your reading isn't good, Pete, but you can read a simple note like that," I sighed.
"Not in the dark, Katie."
I clicked the torch on. Little red eyes stared out from the shadows of the rubble and little white teeth chattered hungrily. I turned the torch on the note and blinked. "This isn't the note from Ellie Gargle!" I said. "Someone's pinched the note and put their school notes in their place so I wouldn't miss them!"

Who switched the notes? Will the Time Detectives find out before their enemies defeat them? Who is accused of being a witch? And Can the Time detectives save her?
Who knows? YOU will if you read the book, you dummy!