Synopsis:
THE FIRST IN THE INCREDIBLE MERRILY WATKINS SERIES Merrily Watkins: late thirties, single mum, parish priest. Cosy? I don't think so... The new vicar had never wanted a picture-postcard parish - or a huge and haunted vicarage. Nor had she wanted to walk into a dispute over a controversial play about a seventeenth-century clergyman accused of witchcraft... a story that certain long-established families would rather remained obscure. But this is Ledwardine, steeped in cider and secrets... A paradise of cobbled streets and timber-framed houses. And also - as Merrily Watkins and her teenage daughter, Jane, discover - a village where horrific murder is a tradition that spans centuries.
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
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