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The Fever of the World

Merrily Watkins Mysteries, Book 16

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A chilling and transfixing new Merrily Watkins mystery.

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'I called on darkness...midnight darkness....'

At the end of the 18th century, the poet William Wordsworth rambled, in a strange visionary haze, from Salisbury Plain up into the Wye Valley. The epic walk changed his life.

More than 200 years later, Oxford student David Vaynor followed the same secluded route and still can't explain what happened to him there. Now he's back, as a police detective investigating a suspicious death, and finds that, in this place of cliffs and chasms, it's far from easy to escape the past.

Meanwhile, Merrily Watkins, diocesan exorcist for Hereford, is being warned that in-depth investigation is not part of her job—a job she may not be holding down for very long. She'll be risking her future to help Vaynor uncover the secrets carried through a haunted landscape by Britain's most revered river.

For behind the scenic beauty are elements that, as Wordsworth wrote, 'promote ill purposes and flatter foul desires.'

©2019 Phil Rickman (P)2022 Bolinda Publishing Crime Thrillers Detective Fiction Mystery Supernatural Thriller Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Paranormal Crime

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The Echo of Crows By: Phil Rickman
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Long awaited, most anticipated and very quickly..... it was over!!!!!!!! Book 16/17 now please Phil. I'm bereft it's done. So will start again from Book 1 .

Merrily I wandered !!!!!

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I have read or listened to all of Phil’s books but have slowly stopped rushing out to buy them. Gone are the days of a tense build up it’s just now a series of moaning about the church, harking back to the feelings of the first book and Jane meddling and moaning about everything. I feel that I have reached the end of the series although I didn’t rush to this conclusion unlike the ends of the last couple of books.

Rushed

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Phil Rickman continues to allow his characters to develop in interesting directions. The over reaction to Covid in this book is somewhat overwrought in retrospect, but then hindsight is always an unforgiving critic.

Another good installment in the series

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I know some people found following the story confusing. I'm used to Rickman's style, so no struggle! However, Merrily seems to be becoming distant from her "calling" which is a shame with regards to the stories, which hooked many readers in the first instance.
Heavy on Wordsworth, the power of the female, and landscape, the usual underlying "investigations" and exorcising is very reduced.

Not quite an exorcist

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Always. good stories but found this one lacking in suspense, loved the creepy Wordswoth part, but found some of the rest a bit confusing

Not the best

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