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All of a Winter's Night

(Merrily Watkins #14)

Phil Rickman

4.35 · Rating details · 1,052 ratings · 95 reviews

It begins in the fog, with a bleak village funeral. In the early hours of the following morning, Merrily Watkins and her daughter Jane are made aware that Aidan Lloyd, son of a wealthy farmer, will not be resting in peace. A rural tradition is displaying its sinister side as an old feud reignites. It's already a fraught time for Merrily, her future threatened by a bishop c ...more

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Paperback, 496 pages

Published February 1st 2018 by Corvus (first published January 5th 2017)

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Mar 16, 2017 Paromjit rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, crime-fiction, fantasy, thriller, horror-fiction

This is the latest in one of my favourite series featuring deliverance vicar, Merrily Watkins. Rickman excels in writing atmospheric, complex and multilayered stories shot through with a strong element of the supernatural. It is always a pleasure to be reaquainted by what, by now, are dear and familiar characters like Lol, Gomer, Huw and Sophie in Lewardine and Hereford. Merrily is concerned about the perfunctory funeral for Aidan Lloyd, a local farmer, who died in a traffic accident. Her concer This is the latest in one of my favourite series featuring deliverance vicar, Merrily Watkins. Rickman excels in writing atmospheric, complex and multilayered stories shot through with a strong element of the supernatural. It is always a pleasure to be reaquainted by what, by now, are dear and familiar characters like Lol, Gomer, Huw and Sophie in Lewardine and Hereford. Merrily is concerned about the perfunctory funeral for Aidan Lloyd, a local farmer, who died in a traffic accident. Her concerns multiply when she and Jane become aware of strange practices by some hard to make out figures at Aidan's grave in the middle of a foggy night. This story looks at family dysfunction, cut throat church politics, paganism, Welsh border Morris Dancing steeped in ancient traditions, age old feuds, corruption, murder, betrayal and greed.

Merrily is feeling vulnerable as the new broom, Bishop Craig Innes, is looking to distance the church from its deliverance section and targets Merrily through covert investigations by Paul Crowden. Lol is feeling under financial pressures as his hopes for his work are dashed. Jane is facing a personal crisis which she is struggling to address. Gomer, Lol and Jane have a dark shadow over them as they break the law to discover what happened to Aidan's grave. There is much more to Aidan than first suspected, including him being the Man of Leaves. The trail leads to a group engaging in odd Morris dancing rituals in Kilpeck headed by Sir Lionel Darvill. DI Frannie Bliss is looking into the shooting of a Polish car dealer and criminal, Wictor Jaglowski, farm burglaries, burnings, murders and the growing concern as to whether Aidan's death was an accident. Annie Howe's corrupt father, Charlie Howe, has ambitions to be the elected Police Commissioner and is engineering events to ensure he wins but what is his involvement in the Jaglowski case? As Merrily endeavours to honour a recently murdered rector and attempt to heal an old feud, matters get out of hand.

This is a story with disparate storylines that eventually connect together beautifully. I love the down to earth character of Merrily juxtaposed with the fantastical elements. It is well written, impeccably plotted, thoroughly researched and has a strong sense of location, with the traditions and belief systems that accompany that locale. There is a apt quote which resonates about the world today when Lionel Darvill says 'The human race has shrunk. Only have to look at the appalling dregs of humanity posing as politicians'. Loved reading this, and looking forward to the next one. ...more

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Jan 01, 2017 David Harris rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Even if I wasn't married to a Church of England vicar and living in a country village, I'd still be obsessively keen on these adventures of Merrily Watkins, diocesan deliverance advisor and keeper of secrets. As I am, I love sifting over the ecclesiastical politics and spotting what's plausible and what's less so (it's fiction - of course it embroiders in places!)

I also love the writing, of course, and in this latest instalment, Rickman is on cracking form, with Gomer Parry back (fans will rejoi Even if I wasn't married to a Church of England vicar and living in a country village, I'd still be obsessively keen on these adventures of Merrily Watkins, diocesan deliverance advisor and keeper of secrets. As I am, I love sifting over the ecclesiastical politics and spotting what's plausible and what's less so (it's fiction - of course it embroiders in places!)

I also love the writing, of course, and in this latest instalment, Rickman is on cracking form, with Gomer Parry back (fans will rejoice) and a juicy mystery that occupies not only Merrily, Jane and Lol but also Frannie Bliss and Annie Howe. The fun, as ever, is seeing how the apparently separate events unfold and join up - and how close Merrily comes to ruin and disaster in the process.

I felt that the balance between the two aspects was better here than in Friends of the Dusk, with Merrily playing more of a part and dealing with some real spiritual issues, although these were less of the classically horrifying Exorcist style and more knotty pastoral problems with a potential spiritual - supernatural - dimension. Indeed, her biggest problem here is arguable the presence of an interfering rationalist priest with his own agenda. The interplay between Merrily's concerns, Lol's career worries and Jane's personal life is as ever very well done - Rickman creates characters you'd just love to pop down the the pub for a drink with, at the same time as portraying an utterly modern England beset by employment, housing and development concerns.

The atmosphere is also well done, making use of all those nighttime, befogged trips between Ledwardine, Hereford and various remote rural churches. Rickman has a knack, fully exploited here, of writing place as character, picking up on all those subtle cues that make somewhere seem right... or not...

And speaking of remote churches, it's when one of those crops up that the story becomes positively numinous. Rickman's ability for conjuring meaning and story from the carvings or ambience of the silent building is second to none. (And, yes, I used the word "conjure" deliberately...) This author knows how to tread the fine line between reality and fantasy. We are never told for sure exactly how far the supernatural is real here, only the different perceptions of Merrily, Lol and Jane - and their rationalisations. Yet their reactions are enough to distinguish these books from mundane crime fiction, or event, say, from something like Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries where we're tantalised by a suggestion of the supernatural which is always then explained away.

Rickman is also I think unusual in understanding and in sympathising with Christian, Pagan and (as we see here) other spiritual outlooks, appreciating where they may reinforce and where they may contradict. His writing is a long way from setting up simplistic oppositions - except, perhaps, where it comes to Annie Howe whose disdain for "superstition" is intact as ever. But, as we know (but Merrily doesn't!) Annie has her own contradictions and secrets.

So - excellent, taut, intelligent detective fiction with just a bit of a twist, nice midwinter spookiness and time spent with some characters I've come to know and love. A good start to 2017! ...more

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Oct 15, 2017 Lori rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fiction

Another thoroughly enjoyable Merrily Watkins novel by Phil Rickman. He is so effective at creating a sense of time and place in his novels. One can almost feel the damp cold of the fog and the icy bite of the Herefordshire wind: “ The sense of border was pervasive here, hard country stalking soft under the darkening frown of the Black Mountains”. In this story all the favourites are back: Merrily, Lol, Jane, Gomer, Sophie and Frannie Bliss. Happy to see Merrily and Lol actually spending more tim ...more

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Jan 07, 2017 Damaskcat rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A new Merrily Watkins is always something to look forward to and I definitely wasn't disappointed with this one. Merrily herself is threatened by the new broom of the new bishop of Hereford who believes that deliverance doesn't have any place in the modern Church of England. DI Frannie Bliss is worried that organised crime has come to the country when a Polish immigrant is shot dead at his garage.

The death of Aidan Lloyd - a famer's son in Ledwardine - is followed by what Merrily regards as an ...more

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Jan 07, 2017 Kizzia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The latest “adventure” of Merrily Watkins does not disappoint as Phil Rickman again skilfully weaves folklore, religion, and police work together to produce a crime thriller with an otherworldly element that is left as nebulous as these things often are in real life, although it ends with us knowing the who, how and why of the crime. Alongside the self-contained mystery plot of the book we get the continual unspooling of the lives of Merrily, Jane, Lol, Frannie, Ann and Eirion, all of whom have ...more

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Jan 28, 2017 Lee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Merrily's back and there are Morris dancers. What is not to like!? ...more

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Nov 08, 2017 Jamie Collins rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, contemporary-fiction, monastic-clerical

I saved this for Halloween. I really love this spooky, atmospheric series, and this one starts out with a nicely creepy scene with mysterious intruders at night in the graveyard behind the vicarage.

I lost interest in the actual mystery about halfway through, however, and I’m beginning to tire of yet more plots to get rid of Merrily and Deliverance. I was beginning to be rather disappointed in the book, but towards the end there were some satisfying developments with the characters which redeemed ...more

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Nov 22, 2019 Jo Hurst rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Phil Rickman at his best. This is an excellent series and this latest instalment will remain a favourite in the series despite its slightly disappointing ending. Aiden Lloyd’s funeral was a cold unhappy affair, and without much info from the family Merrily feels she has given short shrift, something as a deliverance consultant she should never do. Following a strange and disturbing night in the churchyard Merrily discovers there was more to Aiden Lloyd then she first thought and soon his death l ...more

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Dec 28, 2017 Richard rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I have read many of the Merrily Watkins books and enjoyed them but this is perhaps the best from the strength of the writing and the unusual plot. Unusual because I have danced the morris for decades and this was a fascinating spin on what it means. The postscript explains the author’s sources which are not, sad to say, up to date as the mystical rationale for the morris dance that this plot hinges on has been pretty well debunked by modern scholars ... but so what, it makes the story work. Exce ...more

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Feb 25, 2021 Plum-crazy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: myst-supernat-series-following, read-2021

Another really good read in the atmospheric & spooky Merrily Watkins series. I'm a sucker for stories that weave folk lore, customs & legends into them - with the Green Man being especially a favourite of mine - & this instalment sees the appearance of some Morris men....but these aren't the red-cheeked cheery dancers you'd normally see on the village green, oh no. These appear to be quite sinister, with secrets hidden within their ancient dances - but from this series I'd expect nothing less! ; ...more

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Dec 19, 2017 Maggie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It is always a delight to return to the world of Merrily Watkins. I have been a fan of this series from the beginning and have enjoyed every one.

Merrily, the diocese Deliverance minister (formerly called an exorcist) is facing problems from the current Bishop who seems bent on marginalising her. One winter's night she is awoken by Jane, her daughter, who hears someone in the churchyard. Their investigation is cut short when Jane sprains her ankle. It seems the noise has come from around the grav ...more

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Jan 09, 2018 Rachel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Another really good read in this series. Merrily is under pressure from the powers that be who may want her out of the Deliverance job.
Jane, bless her, really doesn't know what she wants. She's confused about a lot of things.
Frannie Bliss and Annie Howe are still keeping their relationship secret and are still having problems with Annie's corrupt father.
To all this add murder and Morris dancing, a certain someone getting their comeuppance and the return of Eirion and you have a darn good story. ...more

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Jan 17, 2019 Marcus Wilson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-thrillers, folk-horror

The final (to date) in the Merrily Watkins series, and in my opinion the best one. Phil Rickman is on top form here, crafring a story from the menace that lies behind English folk customs and legends, featuring morris men and the green man. It is a fantastic story with some great twists along the way.

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Feb 23, 2017 Tom Waters rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Let's Dance

I live in Broadstairs each year a Folk Festival is held next year I will be watching the Morris Dancers a lot more than I have before after reading th I wonderful book I have read all in this series and they all rate five sterss ...more

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May 14, 2017 Bryan Wigmore rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Above-average addition to the series, with some interesting stuff about border morris and the green man symbol, and all tied neatly up at the end. Downsides: the villain was pretty invisible until everyone got suspicious of him at the same time for no reason I could see (though I might have missed something), and a long-term character was offed in a way that seemed rather perfunctory, though maybe that was just because it came too late for the real consequences to be played out in this book, and ...more

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Apr 21, 2018 Stephen Hayes rated it really liked it

Shelves: our-books, fantasy, crime-fiction

I suppose one could sum it up by saying this this book is to morris dancing what The nine tailors by Dorothy Sayers is to church bell ringing.

I looked at this book very carefully before buying it, to make sure that it was not Midwinter of the spirit sneakily published under a different title, since they have republished old Phil Rickman books under new titles before, as a trap for the unwary.

It turned out, however, that I had not read this one before.

Phil Rickman's early books were of the fan ...more

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Feb 11, 2017 Blue50p rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Spoiled by some silly punctuation errors and the spelling of names changing

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Jan 17, 2017 Andrea Collins rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent as usual :) Like meeting old friends again.

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Mar 02, 2017 Sharon rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

I have enjoyed Phil Rickman's books for a long time. All of a Winter's Night is not my fav. He does tend to jump from one story to the next..but always with some tie in you can understand. This just bounced back and forth and was hard to keep up with.
Merrily Watkins is a vicar in Ledwardine who is also in the deliverance ministry (exorcist). Her daughter Jane is between faith and pagan.
A young man is killed, the funeral pitiful and doesn't "sit" well with Merrily Watkins, then come the morris d ...more

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Aug 10, 2017 Sherry Mackay rated it it was ok · review of another edition

To be honest I did not finish this book. It was like wading through treacle. I guess it does not help coming in at book 14 of the series! I did not have a clue what was going on. I didn't know who anyone was or what anyone did or what the hell was happening. Cryptic to the max. And a fair few unfinished sentences which didn't help me in my quest to know what this was about. Start at book 1 perhaps if you are the least bit interested but I am not:) ...more

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Jan 29, 2017 Rachel Phillips rated it really liked it · review of another edition

In typical style of the Merrily Watkins series - a great build up during the story so you cannot wait to get to the end and read the outcome. The character development is very good throughout the series. Will always pick up and read this again.

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Jan 14, 2017 Alysa Blackwood rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Fabulous as usual, all my favourite genres rolled into one. This, the 14th book in the Merrily Watkins series didn't disappoint. I look forward to book 15. ...more

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Jan 22, 2017 Veronica-Lynn Pit Bull rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-supernatural, phil-rickman

All of a Winter’s Night is another atmospheric installment in the Merrily Watkins series. The story telling is subtle and the horror when it comes is oftentimes more inferred than overt. I must admit that sometimes it goes over my head. I’m blaming it on being American. Case and point – Gomer and Lol in the churchyard – noticing something may be amiss and setting it to rights. Made perfect sense to me. Wasn’t batting an eye. And then suddenly people are talking about crimes and spiritual atrocit All of a Winter’s Night is another atmospheric installment in the Merrily Watkins series. The story telling is subtle and the horror when it comes is oftentimes more inferred than overt. I must admit that sometimes it goes over my head. I’m blaming it on being American. Case and point – Gomer and Lol in the churchyard – noticing something may be amiss and setting it to rights. Made perfect sense to me. Wasn’t batting an eye. And then suddenly people are talking about crimes and spiritual atrocities and here I thought it was a solid work ethic and attention to detail.

14 books in and it’s a given that a significant part of the enjoyment is visiting with characters you’ve emotionally invested in. Merrily and Lol are solid in their supportive and drama-free, if still somewhat on the down-low relationship. Lol’s in a fairly good place (for Lol) working on his music and Merrily is coming into her own with both the Day job *and* the Night Job. Or she would be if Bishop Innes wasn’t trying to dismantle deliverance and stick it to her at every possible turn.

As it turns out the Night Job sees almost as much action as the Day Job in Merrily’s neck of the woods. For example, one minute she’s performing a perfunctory funeral for Aiden Lloyd a young man cut down in a tragic accident and then 12 hours later she’s looking out the rectory window and it seems a band of creepy looking figures are dancing on his grave. Merrily can not catch a break. Next thing you know she’s embroiled in the middle of a generational feud related to modern rape of the land annihilation farming versus semi-pagan, spiritual, nurturing the land farming and greed that leads to murder. Then the rumors start flying and the bodies start piling up and Merrily and her spiritual investigation are on a parallel course with Frannie and Annie and their legal investigation until everything comes to a head.

What I liked:
1. Lol and the Border Morris Dancing – very cool to watch I googled it on youtube.
2. The possibility of Jane re-inventing Lucy Devenish’s Ledwardine Lore shop.
3. Merrily’s conversation with Paul the self-serving mole
4. Charlie Howe – as long as it doesn’t cause problems for Frannie and Annie (And Pierce right along with him).
5. The possibility of Eirion coming back into the picture.
6. Rajab Ali Khan – can he please join Merrily’s Scooby gang and become a regular character.
What I didn’t like:
1. 19 year old Jane annoys me. She seems rather immature and her coming of age angst and resulting relationship drama just seem….ridiculous. Luckily she seems to be pulling it together
2. Merrily and the police working parallel but not together. Missed the Merrily and Bliss comradery.
3. Frannie and Annie meeting with Charlie. Because it worked out so well the last time. I really like Bliss but I wanted to smack him upside the head – although I suppose ultimately it will be helpful to Annie. ...more

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Jan 12, 2020 Bill Booker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I have finished reading All of a Winter’s Night! It's a real cracker, thoroughly enjoyed it, deeply dark, full of great scenes and atmosphere, drama and that PR magic (as ever). It makes a great contrast to Friends of the Dusk, very different in 'feel' and the characters' progressions are also wonderfully, hate to use the word but it fits, satisfying. The action is vigorous, the quieter scenes are very like those of Wine of Angels and Midwinter of the Spirit, excellent! Great Kilpeck finale but I have finished reading All of a Winter’s Night! It's a real cracker, thoroughly enjoyed it, deeply dark, full of great scenes and atmosphere, drama and that PR magic (as ever). It makes a great contrast to Friends of the Dusk, very different in 'feel' and the characters' progressions are also wonderfully, hate to use the word but it fits, satisfying. The action is vigorous, the quieter scenes are very like those of Wine of Angels and Midwinter of the Spirit, excellent! Great Kilpeck finale but I really wish it would keep going on and on...

Winter us on its way. A night of fog, visibility limited, sound muffled; something nasty in the churchyard? Merrily and Jane wrap up in warm clothes and head out to investigate...

Merrily is worried that she may be ousted as Deliverance Minister for the Diocese of Hereford – the new bishop hates such vestiges of mediaevalism in the Church. He thinks changes need to be made in this increasingly secular society. This could mean Merrily and Jane, her daughter, would have to leave the village of Ledwardine, a place where they have rebuilt their lives after Merrily’s husband was killed in a road accident.

Lol Robinson, singer-songwriter and Merrily’s lover, is informed by Prof Levin of Thin River Studios that hoped-for royalties from one of his songs used in a TV commercial won’t be a fraction of what he’d been led to believe.

All Jane knew about morris dancing was that it was ‘[a]n archaic, uncool... man-thing’... but we find Morris dancing is imbued with an eeriness and a virile earthy power (here it’s the Border Morris, traditional dance from the Wales-England border counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire).

D I Frannie Bliss inspects a murder...

All of a Winter’s Night is an ideal novel to start with, it’s a great read and, just as with all the Merrily Watkins novels, it stands alone, you don’t have to read the whole series – although after reading any one of them you may find yourself addicted.

A taught thriller, rich in atmosphere, it’s dark with a very deep darkness, all light is drained from the Herefordshire hills. There is a deep and profound stain in the fabric of a rural community. Here we find an old family feud; scheming in the shadows of the cathedral; one man’s ambition, so powerful it has no morality, sees only that which it can use, all else pushed aside.

Sharp, precise writing. Tight, controlled, delivered with finesse and precision – yet excels in ‘laid back’ when required. Highly recommended.

'Dance the Darkness Down', song by Lol Robinson, available to download Dance the Darkness Down. ...more

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Jul 02, 2020 Mike Clarke rated it liked it

“And I’d have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!” I like the Merrily Watkins series for the same reason I liked Scooby Doo - Where Are You? as a small child: you know what you’re getting and that it’ll be exciting. That it was largely the same story week after week (ghost turns out to be property developer/tin miner/rival amusement park owner dressing up to scare away customers or buyers and drive down the price of something so he can make a killing) was neither here “And I’d have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!” I like the Merrily Watkins series for the same reason I liked Scooby Doo - Where Are You? as a small child: you know what you’re getting and that it’ll be exciting. That it was largely the same story week after week (ghost turns out to be property developer/tin miner/rival amusement park owner dressing up to scare away customers or buyers and drive down the price of something so he can make a killing) was neither here nor there. It was thrills and spills and laughs in black and white.

And so to Phil Rickman who’s been producing this series about Hereford’s diocesan exorcist, or ‘deliverance minister’ as the modern church prefers it, for over 20 years now. Geraldine Granger she ain’t, despite the modern trappings - vape stick, pagan daughter, doubt. The lush, loamy and folklore-rich Herefordshire landscape provides a faintly menacing backdrop to tales of pagan ritual, slaughter and old beliefs that’s never quite anachronistic - there is usually a timeless reason behind the goings on: power, money, sex or the kind of petty and slightly wearisome corruption that’s rife in many an English backwater. This one’s about morris dancing, an oft-ridiculed throwback to nature-as-religion belief systems, but in this case black morris, its darker and more violent branch.

Rickman writes briskly and economically, keeping the pace, reacquainting you with familiar characters from previous episodes and introducing new ones - most of whom don’t survive the book. Herefordshire must rival Midsomer for its sleepy rural village murder rate. He weaves in ancient and modern, a house that shouldn’t be where it is, and a church that’s not where it should be (Kilpeck, actually, with its astonishing Norman carvings - worth a visit, especially at sundown) and there are genuine thrills - the churchyard disinterment, the gruesome fate that befalls a meddling rector, or what happens when a farmer completely loses it and turns his crop sprayer on churchgoers. Oh, and thank you for introducing me to John Donne’s Lucy’s Night - “at the midnight of the year.”

Not one for new readers to start here, but a solid continuation of a by-now-venerable series. OK, where are those Scooby snacks? ...more

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Oct 12, 2018 Russell J. Sanders rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I am a Phil Rickman fiend! I eagerly await his newest books, especially the Merrily Watkins series. Then, when the book arrives, I put it in my “to read” stack, waiting for the perfect time to savor it. I sometimes delay my pleasure for months because I want to be in the right mood and frame of mind to devour it. His last book disappointed me in that he did not include many of the familiar characters, having them away from the tiny village of Ledwardine for whatever reason. This book, All of a W ...more

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Feb 28, 2018 Julie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: wales, christianity, british, herefordshire, british-mystery, british-police-procedural, england, paranormal, religion, spirituality

One of my favorite series. In each entry, Rickman blends the supernatural with the rational, the traditional with the encroaching modern world, the mysterious with the realistic. I love his characters, particularly the Anglican priest, Merrily, her pagan daughter Jane, and Merrily's boyfriend, Lol. Following them through fourteen novels(plus a novella, The House of Susan Lulham) has made them feel like family. The journey has also taught me a lot about English traditions and superstitions dating ...more

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May 12, 2017 Debbie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, supernatural

I think this is one of the best Merrily Watkins yet.

The story begins with Jane and Merrily being awakened at night by strange and sinister goings-on in the graveyard next to the vicarage. The grave in question belongs to a young man buried that day - Aidan Lloyd, a farmer's son killed in a road accident by his farm gate.

As Merrily and Jane search for answers to what they've seen it leads them to a bitter feud between two farming families, the Lloyds and Darvills with two very different views on ...more

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Jul 12, 2017 Jim Bowen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british-crime, horror

One of the fictional characters I have always enjoyed is Merrily Watkins, who acts as diocesan exorcist in the area around Hereford England, a boarder area where the contrast between the clinical English and the more emotional and mystical Welsh is explored in murder mysteries.

In this book the son of a local farmer is killed (which might have something to do with a Hatfield vs. McCoy thing going on), local thieves are roaming the countryside on the lookout for what they can steel from farmers, a ...more

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Oct 18, 2017 Susan Stemont rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Just in time for Halloween, Phil Rickman, master of "gothic crime fiction" (for lack of a better term) is back with the best Merrily Watkins book in a while. If you haven't met her in books 1-13, Merrily is a C of E vicar in the village of Ledwardine (on the metaphysical grey area between England and Wales) who specializes in "night work," excursions into the paranormal that frequently culminate in exorcism. Merrily has a neo-pagan teenage daughter to worry about and a former folk-rocker boyfrie ...more

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About Phil Rickman

Phil Rickman

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aka Will Kingdom, Thom Madley.

Phil Rickman, born in Lancashire, has won awards for his TV and radio journalism. After five acclaimed novels, he introduced the fascinating Merrily Watkins series with The Wine of Angels. He is married and lives on the Welsh Border. ...more