Midwinter of the Spirit: 1 - Softcover

Rickman, Phil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 033037401X ISBN 13: 9780330374019

Publisher: Pan General Fiction, 2003

Synopsis

When offered the post once styled 'diocesan exorcist', the Revd Merrily Watkins - parish priest and single parent - cannot easily refuse. But the retiring exorcist, strongly objecting to women priests, not only refuses to help Merrily but ensures that she's soon exposed to the job at its most terrifying. And things get no easier. As an early winter slices through the old city of Hereford, a body is found in the River Wye, an ancient church is desecrated, and there are signs of dark ritual on a hill overlooking the city. Meanwhile, reports of psychic unrest in the Cathedral itself - where the famous shrine of St Thomas Cantilupe lies in fragments - reflect an undying evil lying close to the heart of the Church itself.

About this title

Review

Ancient history, violent deaths, feuds, intrigues and murder. A most original sleuth. * The Times * A thriller that calms spirits both quick and dead. Rich with shivers. * Guardian * First rate crime with demons that go bump in the night. * Daily Mail * A dark no man's land where murder mingles with superstition. Brilliant. * ANDREW TAYLOR * Phil Rickman is one of my all-time favorites. I love everything he's done, from horror to mystery to supernatural thriller - often all in the same book. * DIANA GABALDON *

From the Author

just for the record...
The problem is, if you write novels involving anything supernatural, they file you under horror. Now, I'll accept 'eerie', I'll go with 'chilling', but horror... I don't think so. Nor fantasy; I hate fantasy. I write thrillers with real people and an element of the supernatural. That's it. Anyway, a couple of years ago, I decided to do one that nobody would ever slot into the dark space between Stephen King and Anne Rice. This was The Wine of Angels, a village mystery with murder, missing girls, incest, cider and a ghost. The book's central character was a female vicar, Merrily Watkins. I liked her and thought she deserved a series. So, Midwinter of the Spirit is the one in which Merrily becomes diocesan exorcist (or deliverance minister, as they term it these days} for Hereford. It's a little darker than Wine, but still essentially a crime-based thriller with a vein of supernatural - a 'spiritual procedural', if you like. Probably the first-ever. The third in the series, A Crown of Lights - the story of a modern witch-hunt on the Welsh border - is out in February 2001. It isn't horror either. But a little scary? Quite possibly.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pan General Fiction
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 033037401X
• ISBN 13: 9780330374019
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 544