Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95750 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

Spectator
Compassionate, original and sharply contemporary. Rickman's crime
series is one of the best around

Daily Mail
First rate. A passionate, flawed modern woman, every bit as
concerned with the intricacies of crime as with demons that go bump in the
night

The Times
Merrily is a most original sleuth...and Rickman is an excellent writer, terrific on atmosphere...The best so far

Customer Reviews

Rickman is a genius
Phil Rickman has created a unique genre in his Merrily Watkins stories. They have features of other genres such as horror, supernatural, whodunnit, psyco-geographic, but the whole transcends the parts. The only other living writer who comes near him for creating a sense of place that can be disturbing and reassuring in equal parts, is Peter Ackroyd.
The only writer who connects as well with place and landscape is Thomas Hardy. A bold claim, I know, but Mr Rickman is moving with the literary Gods.
Merrily is a perfect modern hero - flawed and confused at times, but with a deep moral steel. The other characters fizz and zip off the page. Sometimes it is hardly credible that you couldn't just drive down to Hereford and make an appointment to see these people - they are so real.
This particular plot combines a nail-chewing sense of unease, faultless historical accuracy, and wickedly clever plotting.
These books are pure gold. The only negative aspect is that one can read the books faster than Mr Rickman can write them, and it's damned hard to sip such fine wine slowly.

Another minor masterpiece
The series of Ledwardine stories continues to unfold, and the cast of characters grow and mature. Jane is leaving childhood behind, and Merrily and Lol's relationship develops. (I find myself fretting over Gomer Parry, he's growing old!)
Phil Rickman's writing is fantastic, he instils a sense of place and time so (apparently) effortlessly. The level of his research into the esoteric - and sometimes the mundane - is heroic. If you're new to the series, I would strongly advise you to start at the beginning and work your way through the Merrily Watkins novels. I envy you the pleasure of discovering the world she and her companions inhabit.

What a pity...
...that we have to wait a whole year for the next one in the series.
The drawback with such an addictive series is that, sooner or later, the author will move on.
Happily, though, Phil never fully turns his back on old characters. They pop up like small change down the side of the sofa cushions; always a pleasant surprise when they turn up. One of my favourites is Prof Levin, a curmudgeonly figure who tries his best not to get involved in anything remotely spooky...but invariably does. There are mentions of previous story lines. I love it.
I used to like my horror served traditionally: corpses in heaps, furry wotsits with more teeth than a chat show host and more attitude than Jeremy Paxman. Now, I've moved on. Merrily's investigations usually involve some impressive research, and he presents it without falling into the trap of adopting a didactic tone. Unfailingly entertaining. Thing is, every time I pick up one of Rickman's books I start missing the toilet when I go for a pee.