As the days grow shorter and the moon appears brighter in the crisp winter night sky, children and adults curl up and escape in the adventures of a young wizard in his world of magic and mischief.

And with the second Harry Potter blockbuster movie showing at cinemas - but JK Rowling's fifth title about the young sorcerer absent from our bookshelves - supernatural-lovers have been left scratching their heads for the perfect read.

For those who think the publications of Harry Potter and Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass have captured the entire market for charm and wizardry, an unknown Northern writer would tell you otherwise.

While his book contains a similar potion of superstition, witchcraft and magic, the fresh and spine-chilling thriller claims to explain the true spiritual nature of the universe and has caused a storm among readers and critics.

North Yorkshire cleric Graham Taylor has launched the debut title of a magical trilogy set in the 1700s.

Shadowmancer is an inspiring story, delving deep into the supernatural and taking the characters and the reader on a trail of adventure, danger and discovery.

With a life as diverse and fascinating as the novel itself, Graham, 43, is from a working class background in the North-East and began writing at an early age.

For ten years, he worked as a police officer in North Yorkshire before swapping his uniform for a dog collar and becoming an Anglican vicar.

Interwoven in his fiction, Graham preaches the truth behind the supernatural, taken from history, tradition, the word of God and human experience. In essence, Shadowmancer portrays the classic struggle between good and evil.

"I have done a lot of research into the subject and kept coming across witchcraft in my work," he said.

"As an officer I was called up to Whorlton Castle regularly because of the witches there and many of the drug-related incidents involved witchcraft and magic.

"As a priest in Whitby, I upset the vampire society. I didn't want them in the churchyard drinking alcohol in the middle of the night, so they came to the house and cursed my family.

"I simply said 'My God is bigger than your god', in response.

"Many of my experiences and my beliefs play a role in the creation and development of the trilogy. It is a gritty Northern novel - an informative yet thrilling read, with humour, intrigue, excitement and danger."

There has been a whirlwind of interest surrounding the release of Shadowmancer and even mentions of a film.

With copies selling out in branches of Waterstones, it is fast becoming a best-seller and clearly a must-have for all want-to-be-wizards this Christmas.