The Magus of Hay: Volume 12 (Merrily Watkins Series, 12) - Softcover

Rickman, Phil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 085789868X ISBN 13: 9780857898685

Publisher: Corvus, 2014

Synopsis

When a man's body is discovered near the picturesque town of Hay-on-Wye, his death appears to be 'unnatural' in every sense. Merrily Watkins is drafted in to investigate.

'Rickman's writing style reflects his subject matter: spooky and indirect, elegantly crafted but always a sense of shadow behind you, that you've missed something you should have seen.' - New York Review Of Books

'The wind was rising. A smokey cloud-mass shaped like a rabbit made a forward bound in slow motion and came apart over Hay Castle a mile away on the horizon . . .'

Hay-on-Wye: the Welsh-border town that became world-famous for declaring independence and crowning its own king. But now black clouds are gathering, to meet rising shadows from the past. As the town fights for its future, a man drowns in a deep pool below a waterfall, a woman disappears, and diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins - alone and vulnerable - uncovers a secret history of dark magic and ritual murder.

About this title

Review

Ancient history, violent deaths, feuds, intrigues and murder. A most original sleuth. - The Times

First rate crime with demons that go bump in the night. - Daily Mail

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

Few writers blend the ancient and supernatural with the modern and criminal better than Rickman. - Guardian

Rickman's writing [is] spooky and indirect, elegantly crafted but always a sense... that you've missed something you should have seen. - New York Review Of Books

A wonderful, enthralling read. Huge tensions. All too believable. You are there with poor Merrily every step of the way. - Daily Express

First class – Guardian

One of the best – Spectator

Compelling – Mail on Sunday

First rate – Daily Mail

Wonderful – Daily Express

Terrific – the Times

Wonderfully original – Daily Telegraph

Spine-tingling... Delightfully sinister - CrimeReview.co.uk

Phil Rickman is one of my all-time favourites. I love everything he's done. - Diana Gabaldon

Complex, absorbing, fascinating... - Andrew Taylor

The layers, the characters, the humour, the spookiness - perfect. - Elly Griffiths

No shortage of excitement. - Ruth Rendell

Tight with atmosphere, thick with latent violence... Brilliantly eerie. - Peter James

What a shame I've read all this fab writer's books. - Katie Fforde

Imbues paranormal fiction with subtlety, ambiguity and uncertainty like no other writer. - F.G. Cottam

Mysteries in the classic sense, cleverly combining the supernatural and criminal elements to illuminate the darkest corners of our imaginations. - John Connolly

Scared the sh-t out of me. - Jo Brand

Well-written, haunting. - Jeff Abbott

No-one writes better of the shadow-frontier between the supernatural and the real world. - Bernard Cornwell

From the Author

Phil Rickman lives on the Welsh border where he writes and presents the book programme Phil the Shelf on BBC Radio Wales. He is the acclaimed author of The Heresy of Dr Dee, The Bones of Avalon, Midwinter of the Spirit (now a major ITV series), the Merrily Watkins series and the John Dee Papers. Visit his website at: www.philrickman.co.uk.

About this edition

• Publisher: Corvus
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 085789868X
• ISBN 13: 9780857898685
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480