PHIL RICKMAN

Tudor intrigue, murder and the dark arts - the second in an acclaimed historical series starring Dr John DeeAll talk is of the End-time... and the dead are rising. At the end of the sunless summer of 1560, black rumour shrouds the death of the one woman who stands between Lord Robert Dudley and marriage to the young Queen Elizabeth. Did Dudleys wife, Amy, die from an accidental fall in a deserted house, or was it murder? Even Dr John Dee, astrologer royal, adviser on the Hidden and one of Dudleys oldest friends, is uncertain. Then a rash promise to the Queen sends him to his familys old home on the Welsh Border in pursuit of the Wigmore Shewstone, a crystal credited with supernatural properties. With Dee goes Robert Dudley, considered the most hated man in England. They travel with a London judge sent to try a sinister Welsh brigand with a legacy dating back to the Battle of Brynglas. After the battle, many of the English bodies were, according to legend, obscenely mutilated. Now, on the same haunted hill, another dead man has been found, similarly slashed. Devious politics, small-town corruption, twisted religion and a brooding superstition leave John Dee isolated in the land of his father.

Few writers blend the ancient and supernatural with the modern and criminal better than Rickman. - Guardian Diocesan Exorcist: a job viewed by the Church of England with such extreme suspicion that they changed the name. Its Deliverance Consultant now. Still, it seems, no job for a woman. But when the Bishop offers it to Merrily Watkins - parish priest and single mum - shes in no position to refuse. It starts badly for Merrily and gets 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 signs of evil appear in the cathedral itself, where the tomb of a medieval saint lies in pieces.

Merrily Watkins is the most singular of crime fiction protagonists... As ever [Rickman]s supremely skillful at teasing out the menace that lies behind English folk customs and legends and weaving them into a compelling contemporary narrative. - Mail on SundayIN THE DARK HEART OF THE COUNTRYSIDE... When Aidan Lloyds bleak funeral is followed by a nocturnal ritual in the fog, it becomes all too clear that Aidan, son of a wealthy farmer, will not be resting in peace. Aidans hidden history has reignited an old feud, and a rural tradition begins to display its sinister side. Its already a fraught time for Merrily Watkins, her future threatened by a bishop committed to restricting her role as diocesan exorcist for Hereford. Suddenly there are events she cant talk about as she and her daughter Jane find themselves potentially on the wrong side of the law. In the city of Hereford, DI Frannie Bliss, investigating a shooting, must confront the apparent growth of organised crime, also contaminating the countryside. On the Welsh border, the old ways are at war with the modern world. As the days shorten and the fog gives way to ice and snow, a savage killing draws Merrily Watkins into a conflict centred on one of Britains most famous medieval churches, its walls laden with ancient symbolism. Midwinter of the Spirit, televised last year to worldwide critical acclaim, was the first novel to reflect the reality of exorcism in modern Britain. All of a Winters Night is the 15th episode in this electrifying series.

The Merrily Watkins series will have you hooked. Join Merrily in her chilling tales of murder, mystery and intrigue. 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.Few writers blend the ancient and supernatural with the modern and criminal better than Rickman. - Guardian

Single mother and Diocesan Exorcist Merrily Watkins must keep the peace in rural Hereford, quelling a modern witch hunt, and a killer with an old tradition to guard...Ancient history, violent deaths, feuds, intrigues and murder. A most original sleuth. - The Times When a pagan couple buy a ruined church on the Welsh Border, theres an extreme reaction from the local fundamentalist priest. Is it a hate campaign or a nightmarish modern witch-hunt? Merrily Watkins is sent in to keep the lid on the cauldron and uncovers the sinister dynamics of the isolated village of Old Hindwell.

THE 11th INSTALMENT IN THE MERRILY WATKINS SERIES The elite warriors of the Hereford-based SAS know all about pain and the enduring of it. Syd Spicer, ex-SAS trooper, has found himself back the Regiment - this time as its chaplain, responsible for the spiritual welfare of the hardest men in or out of uniform. Faced with a case which would normally be passed discreetly to Hereford diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins, Spicer is forced, for security reasons, to try and handle it himself... and is coming close to a breakdown. Meanwhile, the scattered communities along the Welsh border have their own crisis. With recession biting deep, urban crime has spilled into the countryside and old barbaric evils are revived. When a wealthy landowner is hacked to death in his own farmyard, the senior investigating officer, DI Frannie Bliss is caught in the backlash, his private life in danger of exposure. With the framework of her own world beginning to crack, Merrily Watkins is persuaded to venture into areas where neither a priest nor a woman is welcome... to unearth secrets linked with the borders pagan past. Secrets which she knows can never be disclosed.

A standalone supernatural thriller from the author of the chilling Merrily Watkins Mysteries Glastonbury, legendary resting place of the Holy Grail, is a mysterious and haunting town. But when plump, dizzy Diane Ffitch returns home, its with a sense of deep unease - and not only about her aristocratic familys reaction to her broken engagement and her New Age companions. Plans for a new motorway have intensified the old bitterness between the local people and the pilgrims, so already the sacred air is soured. And, as the town becomes increasingly split by violence and death, Diane, local bookseller Juanita Carey and the writer Joe Powys must now face up to the worst of all possibilities: the existence of an anti-Grail - the dark chalice.A PHIL RICKMAN STANDALONE NOVEL

The discovery of centuries old human bones; a haunted 12th century house; a medieval legend spawning a modern cult... Merrily must piece together a most insidious mystery.No-one in the business deals with the spooky stuff better. - Crime Review UKShe dragged herself back up, holding her scraped hands inside the sleeves of her parka like paws. As she came to her knees, a sound like laughter was chopped up by the wind, and the woman was back . . . A legend of the undead, still seductive, still deadly. A storm unearths a medieval corpse in the old city of Hereford, and the past returns to menace diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins.

The Prayer of the Night ShepherdA crumbling hotel on the border of England and Wales. A suggestion of inherited evil, a strange love affair... and the long-disputed origins of Sir Arthur Conan Doyles The Hound of the Baskervilles. Young Jane Watkins is fascinated, but her mother, Merrily, Diocesan Exorcist, can soon see the sinister side. Especially when blood appears in the fresh snow.The Smile of a GhostIn the affluent, historic town of Ludlow, a teenage boy dies in a fall from the castle ruins. Accident or suicide? And why does the boys uncle turn to exoricist Merrily Watkins? Merrily must work fast as the death toll rises, but there is a dangerous obsession lurking in these shadowed medieval streets.

Brilliantly eerie PETER JAMESEngrossing and beautifully dark . . . a cracking good read JO BRANDA most original sleuthTHE TIMESWelcome to the River Wye: a place of poetry, historic obsession... and occult murder. The curious death of an estate agent is being investigated by detective David Vaynor who, before joining the police, studied the famous 18th century poet William Wordsworth. As Vaynor is discovering, the dark paganism that changed Wordsworths life still lingers on the banks of the River Wye today - and there are some killings even the police cant approach... Enter Merrily Watkins, parish priest, single mum, and diocesan exorcist for Hereford. Called away from her local hauntings, Merrily finds herself confronting the riverside ghosts who, as Wordsworth puts it, promote ill purposes and flatter foul desires. In the ancient heart of the Wye Valley, a buried grudge is about to come to light.*Book 16 in the Merrily Watkins series - now a critically acclaimed ITV drama starring Anna Maxwell-Martin!*More praise for Phil Rickman Cleverly illuminates the darkest corners of our imaginationJohn Connolly The layers, the characters, the humour, the spookiness - perfectElly GriffithsFirst rate crime with demons that go bump in the nightDaily MailNo one writes better of the shadow-frontier between the supernatural and the real worldBernard Cornwell

The Diocesan Exorcist for Hereford must reveal the haunting presence of Susan Lulham...First rate crime with demons that go bump in the night. - Daily Mail The angular, modernist house was an unexpected bargain for Zoe and Jonathan Mahonie - newcomers to the city of Hereford and apparently unaware that the houses pristine, white interior walls had been coated with the lifeblood of a previous owner. How is Merrily Watkins, Diocesan Exorcist for Hereford, to know if Zoe Mahonie is lying or deluded when she claims that the wrathful Susan Lulham is still in residence? Then comes another bloody death. Who is the real killer?A MERRILY WATKINS SERIES NOVELLA

The Parish Priest must solve the mystery of a young boys deathly fall from the Ludlow Castle ruins, and discovers a hidden obsession with the afterlife amongst the ancient streets...Compassionate, original and sharply contemporary. Rickmans crime series is one of the best around. - Spectator In the affluent, historic town of Ludlow, a teenage boy dies in a fall from the castle ruins. Accident or suicide? No great mystery - so why does the boys uncle, retired detective Andy Mumford, turn to Diocesan Exorcist Merrily Watkins? More people will die before Merrily - her own future uncertain - uncovers a dangerous obsession with suicide, death and the afterlife hidden within these shadowed medieval streets.

A supernatural thriller from the author of the chilling Merrily Watkins Mysteries. For Bethan, a schoolteacher, the old superstitions woven into the social fabric of her West Wales village are primitive and distasteful, which is why shes pleased to welcome the sophisticated newcomers: London journalist Giles Freeman and his wife Claire. Surely theyll let in some fresh air? But the Freemans are keen to absorb this different culture, a whole new way of life, rejecting the advice of an old colleague who warns them of a hard and bitter land where theyve always danced on the edge of the abyss. They soon learn that this community hides an ancient, bloody, and pagan secret - one that will haunt them forever.A PHIL RICKMAN STANDALONE NOVEL

A school girl possessed by evil spirits and a savage murder; Merrily is once again drawn into the deadly tangle of deceit and mystery in rural Herefordshire...Lies, cover-ups, danger and the unexplainable. The pace is fast and plot twists await the reader around every corner. Even sceptics will shudder. - Publishers WeeklyBlack poles against the pale night . . . like a site laid out for a mass crucifixion. A summer of oppressive heat in Herefordshires hop-growing country, where the river flows as dark as beer. A converted kiln is the scene of a savage murder. When the local vicar refuses to deal with its aftermath, diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins is sent out to a village with a past as twisted as the hop-bines which once enclosed it.

A PHIL RICKMAN STANDALONE NOVELA supernatural thriller from the author of the chilling Merrily Watkins Mysteries.Though dead for two millennia, he remains perfectly preserved in black peat. The Man in the Moss is one of the most fascinating finds of the century. But, for the isolated Pennine community of Bridelow, his removal is a sinister sign. A danger to the ancient spiritual tradition maintained, curiously, by the Mothers Union. In the weeks approaching Samhain - the Celtic feast of the dead - tragedy strikes again in Bridelow. Scottish folk singer Moira Cairns and American film producer Mungo Macbeth discover their Celtic roots are deeper and darker than they imagined. And, as fundamentalist zealots of both Christian and satanic persuasions challenge an older, gentler faith, the village faces a natural disaster unknown since the reign of Henry VIII. Gripping throughout. Powerful, classic stuff. - The Times

The Cure of Souls When the local vicar refuses to help his parishioners in the aftermath of a savage murder, Diocesan Exorcist Merrily Watkins is sent in by the bishop. Already involved in the case of a schoolgirl whose mother thinks shes possessed by evil, Merrily is drawn into a deadly tangle of deceit as she uncovers the twisted secrets of the villages past.The Lamp of the WickedA serial killer is on the loose in the small village of Underhowle. DI Francis Bliss is convinced he knows where the bodies are buried. But Merrily wonders if Bliss isnt blinkered by personal ambition. And are the Underhowle deaths really linked to some of the most sickening killings in British history?

Grimly sinister. Written with blood-curdling aplomb. - Sunday Telegraph Leo Defford doesnt believe in ghosts. But, as the head of an independent production company, he does believe in high-impact TV. Defford hires journalist Grayle Underhill to research the history of Knap Hall, a one-time Tudor farmhouse that became the ultimate luxury guest house... until tragedy put it back on the market. Its recent history isnt conducive to a quick sale, but Defford isnt interested in keeping Knap Hall for longer than it takes to make a reality TV show that will run night after night... A house isolated by its rural situation and its dark reputation. Seven people, nationally known, but strangers to one another, locked inside. But this time, Big Brother may not be in control.A PHIL RICKMAN STANDALONE NOVEL

Merrily must unearth the mysteries of the decaying village of Underhowle, and tackle a particularly stubborn Detective Inspector who strays off course...Few writers blend the ancient and supernatural with the modern and criminal better than Rickman. - GuardianYoure looking at his inspiration. These are ones he wishes hed done, the ones he wishes hed got to first. After half a century of decay, the village of Underhowle looked to be on the brink of a new prosperity. Now, instead, it seems destined for notoriety as the home of a psychotic serial killer. DI Frannie Bliss, of Hereford CID, is convinced he knows where the bodies are buried, but Merrily Watkins wonders if Bliss isnt blinkered by personal ambition. Are the Underhowle deaths really linked to the legacy of Fred West and the most sickening cycle of killings in British criminal history?

Herefords Diocesan Exorcist must encounter a legacy of evil within the crumbling walls of an old hotel along with memories of murder...Merrily has become an ever more engaging protagonist, a passionate, flawed modern women every bit as concerned with the intricacies of crime as she is with demons that go bump in the night. - Geoffrey Wansell, Daily MailThere were certain phrases you could feel, like fingers up your spine. "Hattie Chancerys Room." Oh God . . . A crumbling hotel on the border of England and Wales has long been linked with the possible origins of Sir Arthur Conan Doyles The Hound of the Baskervilles and his obsession with contacting the dead. Fascinating for young Jane Watkins, flushed with the freedom of her first weekend job. But the sinister side soon becomes apparent to her mother, Merrily, diocesan exorcist for Hereford. Then come memories of a child who killed. And blood in the fresh snow.

A standalone supernatural thriller from the author of the chilling Merrily Watkins Mysteries. For four hundred years, the curfew bell has tolled nightly from the church tower of the small country town, Crybbes only defence against the evil rising unbidden in its haunted streets. Radio reporter Fay Morrison came to Crybbe because she had no choice. Millionaire music tycoon Max Goff came because there was nothing left to conquer, except the power of the spirit. But he knew nothing of the towns legacy of dark magic - and nobody felt like telling him...A PHIL RICKMAN STANDALONE NOVEL