The Purple Claw #2

In "The Web of Horror," Dr. Weir journeys to the Valley of Horror seeking his friend Dr. Italo Schiasi—only to find him dead at the hands of a monstrous spider. Accusing Baron Latro of the murder, Weir is soon captured by the mysterious Countess Arachni, who rescues him from Latro’s deadly form. Taken to her castle, he discovers the truth behind the Purple Claw and the dark transformation that awaits him.

When Ted Redding marries the exotic jungle-born Leera, his former love Anne Windom finds herself tormented by vivid nightmares of snakes—but Dr. Jonathan Weir, the mysterious wielder of the Purple Claw, suspects something far darker than heartbreak is at work. As supernatural terror escalates at the Redding country home, Weir must uncover the truth behind Leera's sinister origins and the ancient witchcraft that threatens to consume them all. A story of voodoo, shapeshifting horror, and the supernatural power needed to break a curse born of jungle sorcery.

In spring 1900, Capt. John Twiggs Myers commanded a small contingent of Marines and sailors dispatched to Peking to shield the U.S. Legation from the Boxers—a revolutionary faction demanding "China for the Chinese." When the Boxers set fire to a Methodist chapel and descended on the city in force, Myers and his men found themselves under siege alongside British and foreign troops. Reinforcements under Major Littleton Waller, having secured Tientsin, pushed toward Peking to break the blockade and drive back the uprising.