The Lamp of the Wicked

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

'You're looking at his inspiration. These are ones he wishes he'd done, the ones he wishes he'd got to first .' After half a century of decay, the village of Underhowle looked to be on the brink of a new prosperity. Now, instead, it seems destined for notoriety as the home of a psychotic serial killer. DI Francis Bliss, of Hereford CID, is convinced he knows where the bodies are buried. But Merrily Watkins, called in to conduct a controversial funeral, wonders if Bliss isn't blinkered by personal ambition. And are the Underhowle deaths really linked to perhaps the most sickening killings in British criminal history

Reviews

The most challenging and intelligent crime novel I encountered last year. Rickman writes with care and sympathy and doesn't shy away from the horror. * Eurocrime *
The good thing about Merrily Watkins is that she's not full of righteous certainty and intuitive detective skills, she is flawed and filled with doubts. A reminder that good fiction based on unsettling ideas can be as illuminating as any number of earnest documentaries. * Sunday Mercury *
Monumentally ambitious . . . Merrily links criminal, psychological, moral, sociological, spiritual and supernatural realms to dig deeper into evildoing just when most fictional sleuths would be calling it quits. * Kirkus Reviews, USA *
Few writers blend the ancient and supernatural with the modern and criminal better than Rickman. * Guardian *
Phil Rickman is one of my all-time favourites. I love everything he's done, from horror to mystery to supernatural thriller - often all in the same book. -- Diana Gabaldon

Author Bio

Phil Rickman lives on the Welsh border where he writes and presents the book programme Phil the Shelf on BBC Radio Wales. He is the hugely popular author of The Bones of Avalon and the Merrily Watkins Mysteries.