The Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman

 

First Line: It was really getting to Jane now, tormenting her nights, raiding her head as soon as she awoke in the mornings.

 

It may be the height of summer in Herefordshire, but dark clouds are gathering over a converted hop kiln where the last owner was savagely murdered. The current owners are convinced that the place is haunted, but even though their story becomes headlines in a Sunday newspaper, the local vicar dismisses the idea as nonsense. 

 

Always leery of bad press, the Bishop of Hereford directs Merrily Watkins, priest and exorcist for the diocese, to put the situation to rest. It makes no difference that Merrily already has her hands full with a woman who is convinced that her adopted daughter is possessed by an evil spirit.

 

~

 

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. 

The Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman

ISBN: 0330487566

PanMacmillan © 2001

Paperback, 566 pages

Amateur Sleuth, #4 Merrily Watkins mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Paperback Swap

Midwinter of the Spirit by Phil Rickman

First Line: This is where it walks...

Merrily Watkins is in her thirties. She's a single mother, and she's the parish priest of Ledwardine, a small village in Herefordshire, England. And-- after the events that occurred in The Wine of Angels-- she's been approached by the new bishop to be a Deliverance Consultant. It's a job that's viewed with so much suspicion by the Church of England that it now goes by this kinder, gentler name instead of the old title: Diocesan Exorcist. Although she has misgivings as to her ability, she wants to do good, to make a difference, so she goes on the training course.

The training course gives her more doubts because even the instructor believes that it's not a job for a woman, but when she returns to her own parish, she has to hit the ground running. A seemingly unending stream of phone calls demand her help with some very strange goings on. The current Deliverance Consultant, a curmudgeonly old man on the verge of retirement, is not about to give her even a molecule of help, and neither is the bishop. The bishop, a handsome, self-assured political animal, wants to see if she's got the right stuff. Even her sixteen-year-old daughter Jane is bent on rebellion, not help.

The new position has begun badly for Merrily and shows no signs of improving. The old city of Hereford is experiencing an early winter. The body of an unidentified man is found in the River Wye. An ancient church is desecrated. Even the cathedral itself shows signs of evil, where the tomb of a medieval saint lies in pieces....

When I read the first book in this series, I fell in love with the setting and the atmosphere that Rickman created as well as his characters, but I had a bit of a problem with the length of the book (over 600 pages). When I picked up Midwinter of the Spirit to read, I didn't even remember the quibble about the previous book's length. All I remembered were the characters, the setting, and the atmosphere. That's all I needed to remember. At over 500 pages, this book isn't lightweight either, but I didn't care. Not one jot. I immediately fell into that setting-- the ancient buildings, the centuries-old traditions, the feeling that the past is always with us-- and Rickman's wonderful characters.

Merrily with her self doubts and her real need to do good... her infuriating and lovable teenage daughter Jane... the self-effacing Lol Robinson... they had all been indelibly imprinted on my mind from reading the first book, and I felt as though I were renewing acquaintance with old friends. I dove headlong into the story and grudgingly came up for air only when real life demanded that I do so.

I know many readers who do not care to read about the paranormal or the supernatural. I used to be one of them. One of the things that I love about Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins series is that so much of the supernatural is implied; you can choose just how deeply you want to go into the story. It would be easy to read Midwinter of the Spirit and pay little to no attention to the supernatural elements. The motivations of the characters are no different: greed, jealousy, ambition, and Rickman certainly knows how to put together a plot by interweaving all these characters and all these reasons to cause harm.

Characters, setting, plot... and the delicious eerie atmosphere that can cause a tingle... or the hair to rise on the back of your neck. Wonderful! If you're in the mood for a rich, meaty, slightly spooky read just perfect for Halloween (or any other time of year), I can give you a tip: get your hands on one of Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins books. Chances are, once you've read one, you'll be reaching for more. Can you read the books out of order? Yes, you can, but character development is key to the series, and I would advise against it. Why deny yourself the pleasure of reading Merrily from the beginning?

Midwinter of the Spirit by Phil Rickman

ISBN: 9780330374019

Macmillan UK © 2000

Paperback, 544 pages

Genre: Clerical Mystery, #2 Merrily Watkins

Rating: A

Source: Paperback Swap

Celebrating Mysteries: A Bit of Clerical Potpourri

My celebration of Church Library Month concludes this week with a bit of clerical potpourri: Quakers, Shakers, a rabbi, and a member of the Vatican's secret service.

It's been a fun and interesting month, and-- like all the other months-- I've found myself adding to my to-be-read shelves and to my wishlist. I hope you have, too!

This subgenre is such an interesting juxtaposition of faith and crime that it's no wonder it's very popular. In a way I suppose you could call it the ultimate fight between Good and Evil-- men and women of the cloth versus those who think nothing of breaking the laws of God and man.

Before we get started with this week's featured authors and books, I'd like to mention an excellent resource I discovered while researching information on this subgenre: Philip Grosset's Clerical Detectives. If this subgenre interests you, I strongly recommend that you visit his website!

Irene Allen

Irene Allen is the pen name of Dr. E. Kirsten Peters, a former faculty member in Washington State University's Department of Geology (where she was known as the Rock Doc). She holds degrees from both Yale and Harvard. She is a practicing Quaker, and under her pen name, she's published four mysteries featuring Elizabeth Elliot, a sixty-something widowed Quaker meeting clerk in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The books in the series are: Quaker Silence (1992) -- sitting on my to-be-read shelves; Quaker Witness (1993); Quaker Testimony (1996); and Quaker Indictment (1998).

Here is what Publishers Weekly had to say about Quaker Silence:

Reflection rather than heart-pounding action marks this subdued and sober first mystery by the pseudonymous Allen. When a devout member of the Society of Friends in Cambridge, Mass., is murdered, other members of the community confront volatile, timely issues, including homelessness and sexual preference. As the Clerk of the Friends Meeting, 66-year-old widow Elizabeth Elliot moderates Quaker gatherings and informally counsels her peers. It is she who encourages them to accept a homeless man at the weekly services of silent prayer, and she who calmly presides over a vigorous debate about whether to recognize homosexual marriage as valid. The murder victim was a wealthy Quaker businessman who was opposed to gay unions; his announcement that he planned to revise his will , made at a Sunday meeting shortly before his death, suggests that the killer is a Quaker. Saddened by events and determined to see justice served, Elizabeth methodically investigates, a process involving discussing the crime over tea with friends and suspects. This mellow, well-orchestrated debut may seem tame to readers accustomed to violence and displays of intense emotion. 

Harry Kemelman

Harry Kemelman was a professor of English and the creator of one of the most famous religious sleuths, Rabbi David Small. Growing up in my village library, I clearly remember just how popular his mysteries were.

Rabbi David Small did his sleuthing in Barnard's Crossing, Massachusetts. There are eleven books in the series, and they were published between 1964 and 1996. The first three are: Friday the Rabbi Slept Late (1964), Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry (1966), and Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home (1969).

Here's a brief synopsis of Friday the Rabbi Slept Late from Library Journal:

Kemelman's 1964 mystery launched the Rabbi David Small series and snagged an Edgar for best first novel. The plot finds the rabbi investigating the murder of a nanny no more than a stone's throw from his synagogue. His investigation, however, turns up heaps of evidence pointing to the killer's being him.

Deborah Woodworth

Deborah Woodworth had a southern Ohio childhood, near the abandoned sites of several Shaker communities, followed by a Sociology of Religion Ph.D., which inspired her to create a Shaker mystery series set in Depression-era Kentucky.

As a teenager, I visited the Shaker community of Pleasant Hill in Kentucky. I fell in love with the place, so the setting and the religious sect both led me to start reading (and enjoying) this series.

In it, Sister Rose Callahan, eldress of a dwindling Shaker village, does the sleuthing, often with the energetic assistance of her young friend, Gennie Malone, an orphan brought up by the Shakers. There are six books in the series. The first three are: Death of a Winter Shaker (1997), A Deadly Shaker Spring (1998), and Sins of a Shaker Summer (1999).

Here is a synopsis of Death of a Winter Shaker:

The peaceful Shakers, pledged to hard work, worship and nonviolence could scarcely believe there was a dead body in their herb house. The handsome young drifter known as a "Winter Shaker" had professed to be a Believer to find refuge from the cold and the Depression. Now he'd gotten himself murdered.


Shaker Sister Rose Callahan, with her practical knowledge and worldly experience is assigned to find answers the sheriff refuses to consider-even if it mean discovering one of their own is the killer. But to protect a declining Shaker population, Rose must keep the sinful details hidden from the outside world. What the good Sister uncovers among the brethren are more than a tad of Earthly temptations, some un-Godly rivalry, and enough shameful secrets to raise havoc among the faithful...and to tempt some misguided soul to commit the most diabolical sin of all.

Juan Gómez-Jurado

Juan Gómez-Jurado is an award winning journalist and best selling author. He is one of the most successful contemporary Spanish authors of all time.

He is the creator of Anthony Fowler, a former priest, CIA operative, and member of the Vatican's secret service.

There are currently three books in the series: God's Spy (2007), The Moses Expedition (2010), and The Traitor's Emblem (2011).

Booklist says this about God's Spy:

Italian police inspector and profiler Paola Dicanti is not one to shrink from a challenge. But she's never been up against the likes of Victor Karosky. The American priest is on a mission to murder and mutilate cardinals who have arrived in Vatican City to elect a new pope in the wake of John Paul II's death. Though Karosky's identity is revealed early on, it doesn't lessen the suspense of Spanish writer Gomez-Jurado's riveting debut. He deftly weaves together the perspectives of perpetrator and pursuers alike: cold-blooded Karosky, a sexually abused child who has become a deeply dysfunctional adult; temperamental Inspector Dicanti, forever butting heads with the territorial and often pompous Vatican City police; and enigmatic priest and former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer Anthony Fowler, whose knowledge of Karosky proves pivotal to the case. The action unfolds against the backdrop of Vatican City, where countless pilgrims have gathered, wholly unaware of the heinous crimes taking place.

I hope you've enjoyed this month's theme for Celebrating Mysteries. Join me next weekend when a whole new theme begins!