Omnibus: Midwinter of the Spirit, A Crown of Lights

Merrily Watkins #2-3

by Phil Rickman

Midwinter of the SpiritThe Church of England are so suspicious about having a Diocesan Exorcist that they've altered the job title - it's Deliverance Consultant now. But the name change hasn't done much to improve Merrily Watkins' 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.A Crown of LightsWhen a redundant church is bought by a young pagan couple, the local fundamentalist minister reacts with fury. In an isolated community on the Welsh border, a modern witch hunt begins. Diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins is expected to keep the lid on the cauldron... but what she finds out will seriously test her beliefs.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Contemporary

539 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Phil Rickman, also known under the pen names Thom Madley and Will Kingdom, was a British author of supernatural and mystery novels.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so slow and was a pain to read. Not much in the way of supernatural suspense... I would have been better of watching Murder She Wrote reruns.

I will read the third book. And if it drags on I'm done.

Also, I can't stand the daughter Jane. I hate it when she's active in the plot. Not really sure why I'm going to read the third book now

[Nicola · Rating 1 out of 5]

These are honestly the worst books I have read. I feel compelled to write a review so other people don’t read them. The book flips from one thread of the story to another with no warning and is so disjointed.

[Wendy Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit out of my comfort zone, as someone without faith, and maybe a bit too lengthy but really well-written, compelling and with great characterisation.

[Kevin Darbyshire · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really like the characters Phil Rickman has created but the story is totally ridiculous. As the book went on it just became more bizarre and not in a good way. I'm sure this talented author could have written something so much better. I have the third book in the series already so will give it a go but if it's anything like these two I will admit defeat.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't remember finding the other book I read from the Merrily Watkins series,(Wine of Angels), so annoying. Both of the ones in this collection should be renamed 'Jane's Duffel Coat parts 1 and 2' due to the number of times the damned thing is mentioned. What was that all about?! I had the distinct impression that there was a serious lack of editing: new sentences started unneccesarily, ellipsis all over the place for no apparent reason, stunted dialogue which just didn't flow, together with serious continuity flaws. The attempts to withold information in order to create suspense only serve to cause confusion and there are so many things which simply don't make sense. I kept waiting for the real story to kick in, but it never did.

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found these unbearably twee and gave up!