Merrily Watkins collection 1: Midwinter of Spirit and Crown of Lights

Merrily Watkins collection 1: Midwinter of Spirit and Crown of Lights
Author: Phil Rickman
Publisher: Atlantic Books Ltd
Total Pages: 1062
Release: 2013-04-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1782391495

A thrilling collection starring the intriguing Merrily Watkins - late thirties, single mum, and diocesan exorcist 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 she's possessed by evil, Merrily is drawn into a deadly tangle of deceit as she uncovers the twisted secrets of the village's past. The Lamp of the Wicked A 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 isn't blinkered by personal ambition. And are the Underhowle deaths really linked to some of the most sickening killings in British history?

A Crown of Lights

A Crown of Lights
Author: Philip Rickman
Publisher: MacMillan
Total Pages: 486
Release: 2001-01-01
Genre: Exorcism
ISBN: 9780333751749

A disused church near a Welsh border hamlet has already been sold off by the Church when it's discovered that the new owners are pagans who intend to use the building for their own rituals. Rev. Merrily Watkins, the diocesan exorcist, is called in, unaware of a threat from a deranged man.

Midwinter of the Spirit

Midwinter of the Spirit
Author: Phil Rickman
Publisher: Pan Books Limited
Total Pages: 544
Release: 2000-03-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780330374019

As an early winter slices through the old city of Hereford, a body is found in the River Wye, an ancient church is descrated, and there are even indications of evil in Hereford Cathedral itself, where the tomb of St. Thomas Cantilupe lies in fragments.

The Cure of Souls

The Cure of Souls
Author: Phil Rickman
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Total Pages: 526
Release: 2011-10-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0857890190

Merrily Watkins faces multiple occult threats in her fourth outing In Herefordshire's 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 help its new owners cope with the aftermath, diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins is sent in by the Bishop. Already involved in the case of a schoolgirl whose mother thinks she's possessed by evil, the hesitant Merrily is drawn into a deadly tangle of deceit, corruption, and sexual menace as she uncovers the secrets of a village with a past as twisted as the hop-bines which once enclosed it.

The Wine of Angels

The Wine of Angels
Author: Phil Rickman
Publisher: Atlantic Books Ltd
Total Pages: 609
Release: 2011-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0857890166

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

To Dream of the Dead

To Dream of the Dead
Author: Phil Rickman
Publisher: Quercus
Total Pages: 545
Release: 2013-09-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1623653096

December, and the river is rising. The village of Ledwardine has never been flooded in living memory. Within days it will be an island. There's no electricity. The church is serving as a temporary mortuary for two people who drowned. Only one man feels safer. An aggressively atheist author has been moved, for his own safety, Rushdie-style, into a secluded house just outside the village. Fundamentalist Christians have hated him for years. Now he's offended the Muslims. Bad move. Meanwhile, archaeologists, assisted by Merrily's teenage daughter, Jane, are at work in Coleman's Meadow, unearthing an ancient row of standing stones which some people would rather stay buried. The atheist's temporary home is close to the site. And his young wife is becoming conspicuously agitated. Is it the fear of discovery--or the kind of fear that she, of all people, could never disclose? One thing is clear: the last person who's going to be welcome in that house is an exorcist. With the flood water washing up Church Lane towards the vicarage and the shop running out of cigarettes it looks like a cold and complex Christmas for Merrily Watkins in an ancient community forced to untangle its own history against the swirling uncertainty of the future.

The Lamp of the Wicked

The Lamp of the Wicked
Author: Phil Rickman
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Total Pages: 633
Release: 2011-12-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0857890204

In Merrily's fifth outing, a serial killer appears to be on the loose—and Merrily has her doubts about the detective in charge of the case 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 Francis Bliss, of Hereford CID, is convinced he knows where the bodies are buried. But Merrily Watkins, called in to conduct a controversial funeral, wonders if Bliss isn't blinkered by personal ambition. And are the Underhowle deaths really linked to perhaps the most sickening killings in British criminal history?

We Don't Go Back

We Don't Go Back
Author: Howard David Ingham
Publisher:
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2018-07-08
Genre: Horror films
ISBN: 9781722748814

Secret, strange, dark, impure and dissonant...Enter the haunted landscapes of folk horror, a world of ­pagan ­village conspiracies, witch finders, and teenagers awakening to evil; of dark fairy tales, backwoods cults and obsolete technologies. Beginning with the classics Night of the Demon, Witchfinder General, The Wicker Man and Blood on Satan's Claw, We Don't Go Back surveys the genre of screen folk horror from across the world. Travelling from Watership Down to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, with every stop inbetween, We Don't Go Back is a thoughtful, funny and essential overview of folk horror in TV and cinema."A beautiful rumination on the dark films and television that shaped me and a generation of odd children, for good or ill, worth a year of your time, because you won't just read the book, you'll feel a burning desire to watch everything mentioned within." - Robin Ince"A comprehensive, accessible and often riotously funny tome weaving together folk horror in all its forms, from British television to the American backwoods, from Eastern European fairytales to the vengeful ghosts of East Asia. Ingham explores uncanny landscapes haunted by things buried, old cultures converging with the reluctance of contemporary reason, that very tension that gives his book its name. He attempts to both define folk horror and free it from definition, creating the ultimate guide to the genre's manifestations on film and offering a convincing argument as to why the genre resonates so compellingly with people today." - Kier-La Janisse, author of House of Psychotic Women