It’s difficult to tell precisely what’s happening on this Tommy Shoemaker cover for C.S. Cody’s, aka Leslie Waller’s, horror novel The Witching Night, but it’s still an eye-catching piece. We figured the art would make sense once we read the book and it did. The tale follows Joe Loomis, a Chicago doctor whose long lost pal Colin reappears in his life but wastes away over the next several weeks suffering from debilitating headaches while hinting at possible supernatural causes. After he dies Loomis learns that Colin has willed him all his worldly goods, and amongst the trove are items pointing toward a cabal of satanists. Loomis probes, for his trouble begins suffering debilitating headaches himself, and learns that another person died of them before Colin. Uh oh. He’s a doctor not an investigator but he’ll need to toughen up if he hopes to survive. You get all the expected notes here—black masses in the wilderness, naked maidens, strange artifacts, and more. Cody relates it well, with considerable creepiness, making The Witching Night one of the better early- to mid-period horror novels. Hail Satan!
