Page Updated: 05/02/2008

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Phil Rickman - Page 2

The Cure of Souls A Crown of Lights Midwinter of the Spirit The Wine of Angels

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First British Edition Macmillan (2001)

Paperback - Pan (2002)

The Cure of Souls
The third chilling mystery for Rev. Merrily Watkins as diocesan exorcist.
As high summer bakes the rich, heavy earth of the Frome Valley in north-east Herefordshire, dark shadows gather - quite literally - around a converted hopkiln where the last owner was savagely murdered.
Though the local vicar dismisses claims by the current occupants that the place is haunted, their story is soon splashed over a Sunday newspaper - and the diocesan Deliverance Minister, the Revd Merrily Watkins, is directed by the Bishop of Hereford to defuse the situation. Merrily, however, is already contending with a similar problem involving a woman’s claim that her adopted teenage daughter is possessed by evil.
In both cases Merrily remains unconvinced but, in this summer of oppressive heat and sudden storms, nothing is ever going to be quite what it seems. As she is drawn into a tangle of trickery, deceit, corruption and sexual menace, her hastily conducted exorcism produces unhappy results. With Merrily’s increasing paranoia putting both her faith and her future on the line, and the whole concept of Deliverance now facing public trial, she and her good friend Lol Robinson can only try to uncover the secrets of Knight’s Frome - a village concealing a past as twisted as the bines on the hop-plants once surrounding it.
The two of them discover how local history became entwined with the legacy and superstitions of the Romany gypsies who once harvested these crops. It seems the Rom have long memories - allegedly on both sides of the grave - and for them the darkest hour could be noon, the time of no shadows.
‘A can’t-put-it-downer… magnificent is its evocation of the sinister countryside along the Welsh Border’ Prof. Bernard Knight, Tangled Web
‘Intrigue, lies, cover-ups, danger and the unexplainable… plot twists around every corner… a most provocative read’ Publishers’ Weekly
‘… can convey evil like on other writer… the writing is spare and inspired… a major talent unfolding before us’ SFX
‘Rickman writes mysteries in the classic sense, cleverly combining the supernatural and criminal elements to illuminate the darkest corners of our imaginations.’ John Connolly

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Paperback - Pan (2003)

Paperback Pan (2001)

A Crown of Lights
When a redundant country church is bought by a pagan couple, the local evangelical minister reacts with fury. A modern witchhunt begins and Merrily Watkins, diocesan exorcist, is expected to keep the lid on this cauldron. But when the truth begins to emerge, her loyalty to the Church is seriously tested. Meanwhile, there is the problem of the man who won’t be parted from his dead wife. And the ancient mystery of the five local churches dedicated to St Michael, slayer of dragons. Also, a killer with an old tradition to guard . . .
`Supernatural events subtly introduced… paragraphs like lightning flashes… has you ransacking the English language for adequate words of praise. ‘Faultless’ springs to mind…‘ John Whitbourn, SFX
'A steaming brew that teeters on the edge of serious violence. A cracking read' Tony Heath, Tribune
`A highly sophisticated crime novel . . . Unlike almost anything else in the genre. Its complex narrative grips like a clamp. Rickman makes us care about his characters . . . is brilliant at dialogue’ Andrew Taylor, Crime Time
'Pages that quicken the pulse and chill the room. The Merrily series represents a major talent unfolding before us. To miss out on it would be to deny yourself a rare and exquisite pleasure' John Whitbourn, All Hallows

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First British Edition Macmillan (1999)

Paperback - Pan (2003)

Paperback Pan (2003)

Midwinter of the Spirit
'Exorcism' is a word no longer favoured by the Church of England. Nowadays the preferred term for dealing with cases of possession and paranormal disturbance is 'deliverance ministry'. It sounds less cold, less sinister more caring.
So why shouldn't this be a job for a woman?
When offered the post once styled 'Diocesan Exorcist', the Reverend Merrily Watkins - single parent, rural perish priest, and unashamed nicotine addict - doesn't really see how she can refuse. For hasn't she already spoken out against the Church's reluctance to take a stance on psychic matters! Hasn't she also had inexplicable experiences of her own?
The young and progressive Bishop is keen to see a woman at the spiritual cutting edge. But the retiring exorcist - who strongly objects to women entering the priesthood not only refuses to be of help to Merrily but ensures that she's soon exposed to the job at its most terrifying and distasteful.
And things get no easier. As an early winter cuts through to the bones of the old city of Hereford, a body is found in the River Wye, an ancient church is desecrated and there are suggestions of dark ritual on a hill overlooking the city. Reports of psychic unrest in the Cathedral itself - where the famous medieval shrine of St Thomas Cantilupe now lies in fragments - reflect an undying evil.
Alienated from her teenage daughter, Merrily can only turn for understanding to their friend Lol Robinson, a songwriter and former long-term psychiatric patient. Together they confront an unimaginable darkness lying close to the heart of the Anglican Church itself.
Based on long-established 'deliverance' techniques, Midwinter of the Spirit is the first spiritual-procedural thriller: the electrifying story of a professional woman who must walk in dark places where an often-intangible evil thrives uncurbed by the forces of law and order.
'No shortage of excitement' Ruth Rendell
'Authentic shudders with some wonderful touches of the bizarre’ Kate Saunders
'A massive, ambitious novel tight with atmosphere and thick with latent violence... brilliant' Peter James
‘Wonderfully spooky ... utterly compelling’ Jilly Cooper
'I loved this one. I believed in the characters and relished the wit' Joanna Trollope
'His most effective chiller yet' Christopher Fowler
'Remarkable… something new and creepy. Even my wife enjoyed it ... and she doesn't usually like horror’ Stephen King
'No one writes better than Phil Rickman of the shadow frontier between the supernatural and the real world' Bernard Cornwell
'I emerged shell-shocked and still so completely involved with the story, I was going round in a daze' Barbara Erskine
'Careful accumulation of atmospheric detail… no shortage of spine-chilling frissons. Rickman has undoubtedly created a new genre: the spiritual-procedural thriller. Highly entertaining… delivered with a panache we have come to expect’ Crimetime
'Dark ritual and psychic unrest confront Britain's first female exorcist. Watkins is an endearing fictional creation, fallible and interesting in her own right, and the genre in which she makes her mark is an intriguing one . . . a series and a character to watch’ Publishing News
'Rickman does the supernatural stuff with élan and builds around his heroine a rich hinterland of politicking clerics and mother-daughter growing pains' Guardian

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Paperback - Pan (2003)

Paperback Pan (1999)

The Wine of Angels
The Rev. Merrily Watkins had never wanted a picture-postcard parish - or a huge and haunted vicarage. Nor had she particularly wanted to walk straight into a local dispute over a controversial play about a strange seventeenth-century clergyman accused of witchcraft… a story that certain old-established families would rather remained obscures.
But this is Ledwardine, steeped in cider and secrets. A paradise of cobbled streets and timber-framed houses. And also - as Merrily and her teenage daughter Jane discover - a village where horrific murder is a tradition that spans centuries.
The Wine of Angels launches an atmospheric new series about a very singular woman facing the many faces of evil. It is a novel that foresees the sexual harassment of women priests ad confronts the most dramatic and controversial development in the Anglican Church since the Reformation.
Phil Rickman was born in Lancashire. He has won awards for his TV and radio journalism, and his earlier novels, Candlenight, Crybbe, The Man in the Moss, December and The Chalice were highly acclaimed. He is now working on the second Merrily Watkins 'spiritual procedural' Midwinter of the Spirit, which will be published in the autumn. He is married and lives on the Welsh Border.
'…rather as if an episode of The Vicar of Dibley or The Archers had suddenly turned into Cracker' The Sunday Times
'Escalates with all the excitement of a good thriller and races breathlessly towards the climax… a wonderful, enthralling read' Daily Express
`Huge tensions . . . woven through is the wonderful web of mysticism and the supernatural we have come to expect from Phil Rickman . . . enthralling.’ Barbara Erskine, Daily Express
'Well, Holmes did say that the lowest and vilest alleys of London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside… Merrily wins out’ Jerusalem Post
‘A first-rate thriller with supernatural overtones… deftly illuminates the intrigues of village life. Quirky characters, an abundance of plot twists’ Publishers Weekly

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