Tangled Web UK Review October 2007
The Fabric of Sin (Merrily Watkins Mysteries) by
Philip Rickman
hbk out September 07
Published by Quercus
at £14.99
I thought that Phil Rickman couldn't possibly better his last Merrily Watkins book, but he's gone
and done it again!
Here once more is the full cast of his memorable characters, the diffident Rev. Watkins,
Deliverance Counsellor/ exorcist for the Diocese of Hereford, her gutsy daughter Jane, the
equally diffident singer Lol and Gomer Price Plant Hire, all involved in a menacing tale on the
Welsh border.
The author is a genius at taking local legends, characters and historical sites to weave into
tortuous stories that teeter on a tightrope of belief between the rational and the supernatural.
In previous books, he has recuited, amongst others, Conan Doyle, Edward Elgar and Owain
Glyndwr but this time he has excelled himself with a tense story which brings in the Templars,
Jacques de Molay, Special Branch, M.R. James, the Masons, the Bishop of Hereford and even
Prince Charles!
The Duchy of Cornwall has in fact recently bought up land in Herefordshire and Phil has added a
farm at Garway to their holdings. Garway is, in reality, an important Templar site but when the
derelict Master House, which the Duchy wants restored, drives away the contractor on the
grounds that his girl-friend thinks it's haunted, Merrily is brought in to sort it out.
Given the interest of the heir to the throne in esoteric matters, everyone from Canterbury down is
treading on eggshells and poor Merrily gets bounced between them all. A couple of violent
deaths soon complicate the story and the complex plot gets even more complex, but Phil handles
all the threads with his usual expertise. The amount of research which must have gone into the
book is suggested by the author's postscript giving the sources and attendant advisers, but it is
his skill in constructing such believable characters that is his strength. No one can surpass him
for writing dialogue that is so authentic that it reads like a transcript of a tape-recording. As the
Daily Telegraph said (so it must be true!) 'We don't praise our home-grown thriller writers
enough - it's high time we praised Phil Rickman'.
I just cannot understand why the Merrily books have not been fought over by television
companies, as the theme, the characters and the lovely background of the Marches would make a
cracking series.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
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