This is the first book in the Merrily Watkins series. It’s probably best to do them in order – but not essential. I came in half way through with ‘The Fabric of Sin’ – which I was sent to review for White Dragon, fell in love with the writing style and sought out more, so this is my fourth.
The books stand alone, the stories complete within themselves. However, there’s relationships and situations that evolve across the novels, so if you do read all of them (in order is probably better) then that’s a lot more likely to work.
There are certain aspects of the series that haven’t kicked off at this point – which made it a bit strange for me, and fascinating.
Like all other Merrily Watkins stories, there’s mystery, death, occultism, clashes between belief systems, beautiful rural settings, a wonderful twisty plot and some great characters. Rickman has a really engaging writing style.
In this tale, widowed Merrily Watkins and her teenage daughter Jane move to the Herefordshire village of Ledwardine where Merrily is due to become the parish priest. It’s a traditional place, and the idea of a woman in the pulpit troubles a lot of people. Local politics, revolving around a festival soon start causing problems and then there’s the mystery of Wil Williams, a vicar from the distant past, who commited suicide having been accused of witchcraft. There are threads connecting the past to the present.
It’s a beautifully spooky book, both thoughtful and with page turning action sequences, beautifully paced, full of suspense. I stayed in bed for two hours this morning to finish reading it. Totally recomended (so long as you can afford to be hooked in!)
- Goodreads rating – 3.91
- REVIEW – Bryn