Synopses & Reviews
In 1934 the dying composer Sir Edward Elgar feebly whistled to a friend the theme from his Cello Concerto and said, "If you're walking on the Malvern Hills and hear that, don't be frightened. It's only me." Seventy years later, Merrily Watkinsparish priest and deliverance consultant to the Diocese of Herefordis called in to investigate an alleged paranormal dimension in a spate of road accidents in the Malvern village of Wychehill. There, Merrily discovers new tensions in Elgar's countryside. The proposed takeover of a local pub by a nightclub owner with a criminal reputation has become the battleground between the defenders of Olde Englande and the hard men of the drug worldwith extreme and sinister elements on both sides. And as the choral society prepares to stage an open-air performance of Elgar's Caractacus at a prehistoric hill fort, the deaths beginc.
Review
"Compassionate, original, and sharply contemporary. Rickmans crime series is one of the best around." The Spectator
Review
"First rate. A passionate, flawed, modern woman, every bit as concerned with the intricacies of crime as with demons that go bump in the night." Daily Mail
Review
"Probably his best book." Sunday Telegraph
Synopsis
NOW A MAJOR ITV DRAMA
Merrily Watkins, parish priest, single mum and Deliverance Consultant to the Diocese of Hereford, heads for the Malvern Hills to investigate an alleged paranormal dimension to a spate of road accidents in the sleepy village of Wychehill.
Merrily is called in when two people are killed in a head-on crash that is also linked to the revamped local pub which, it seems, has injected the valley with a shattering, strobing surge of inner-city nightlife... and drugs. When a dealer is found savagely murdered below the great earthen hillfort of Herefordshire Beacon, police ask: is it a ritual killing, a gangland disposal or a cry of outrage?
As Merrily and the police follow separate paths towards the truth, Merrily's teenage daughter, Jane, faces the consequences of her own obsession with a possibly prehistoric site in their home village of Ledwardine. Until, on a night of frenzied violence, in a place at the centre of an ancient, universal mystery, the final, shocking connections are made.
About the Author
Phil Rickman is the author of the Merrily Watkins Mysteries series. Julie Maisey has appeared in The Bill, Eastenders and many sit-coms including Birds of a Feather and Holding the Baby.