Battle Creek, MI -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/19/2014 -- On February 18th the Werewolves in the Renaissance blog tour stopped at the blog of Mathew Reuther where Tracy Falbe presented her guest post about the Inquisition and modern crime investigation. The article drew from her research for her ninth novel Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale.

Set in 1561 Bohemia, Falbe’s new historical fantasy has a plot driven by witch and heretic hunting. The hero Thal was born of a witch and a sorcerer. He has werewolf powers that he commands with an enchanted fur. After his mother is tortured and burned at the stake, he seeks vengeance against her killers.

“I wanted this novel to show the fear of persecuted populations. Also I wanted to dramatize the early modern beginnings of bureaucratic persecution with instruction manuals and legal torture,” Falbe said.

In her guest post she wrote:

“Indicative of the increasing importance placed on making society obey a single worldview, in 1532 Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor decreed that torture was allowed to determine the validity of witchcraft accusations. Burning at the stake was the punishment. With the legal doors wide open to the use of torture, all kinds of fantastical stories came from the mouths of victims because torture will make people say anything, especially when led on by questions specifically meant to confirm heresy and allegiance to the Devil.”

Her blog tour host Mathew Reuther works as an independent author, journalist, and freelancer in Southern California. Of his freelancing work, he said, “You may well have read it and never even known it.” He is the author of the Dire Crimes stories Dead’s Night and Sunset Ride.

The Werewolves in the Renaissance blog tour continues until March 13th with 7 more guest posts by Falbe about historical insights from her research for the novel. Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale is sold by many retailers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, Kobo, and the author’s web store Brave Luck Books.