A thrilling read! I have yet to read a Merrily Watkins Mystery that I didn't thoroughly enjoy. The characters are very well developed as well as a view of the culture along the Welsh-English border. Merrily is baptized by fire in her developing role as Minister of Deliverance(excorcist). I have read the previous three books and they just seem to expand and get better with each one. Even though they can be read out of order, I highly recommend starting with the first one The Wine of Angels.

Share/Like this Review?

It had been years since I'd first enjoyed the first three books in Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins series. Then the day came when I saw the next three sitting on my bookshelf, and I knew it was time to pick up book four, The Cure of Souls. Rickman knows how to blend many elements into a compelling, atmospheric tale.

There's the element of the supernatural that makes the story a tiny bit eery, even though the cause of mayhem is always rooted in very earthbound human behavior. There's the element of setting in which I always learn something about the area. In The Cure of Souls, this element is threefold: a bit about the history of hop growing and picking, the making of guitars, and Romany (gypsy) traditions. There's the ecclesiastical element which is done with a light touch. There's the strong element of mystery which keeps readers wondering what in the world is going on, and then there's my favorite-- the element of character. I truly enjoy the characters in this book.

Merrily Watkins is a woman with a true calling. She wants to do good. She wants to help her fellow human beings. She wants to raise her teenage daughter to be a good person, and she's still not convinced that she's the right priest for the job of diocese exorcist, but she's working hard to learn as much about it as she can. She has to work hard because too many people still look at her and think, "You're the wrong sex, you're too young, you're too small."

At the beginning of this series, I couldn't stand Merrily's daughter, Jane. Jane just got right up my nose, but I'm happy to say that, as she gets older, she's begun to realize that the world doesn't revolve around her and she needs to take other people into account. She's got good instincts in this book, and it's fun to watch the evolution of her character.

I love how Rickman begins his tales with overtones of the supernatural-- Ouija boards, fortune tellers, demonic possession, ghosts-- and then turns everything inside out to show how the mystery is actually rooted in the here and now. That takes skill, and when that skill is joined with an atmospheric setting and a strong cast of characters, it turns this series into a winner.

Share/Like this Review?