The Wine of Angels

Phil Rickman is my favorite author and I would happily recommend any of his books, although this is probably one of my favorites The Wine of Angels is part of a series that is part mystery and part supernatural If you are lucky enough to find his books in the US he is British you will find them mistakenly I think shelved in the Horror section of your bookstore The main character is a female vicar named Merrily Watkins who is assigned to the village of Ledwardine on the border of England and Wale [...]

4.5 stars Terrific book Definitely a favorite, and one I m glad I own I really wish this one hadn t been genrefied In my opinion, this is not just any crime novel This book is special It has lots of depth And these characters My goodness This man knows how to write He really makes this village come alive I am truly impressed Not sure why this series isn t better known What s not to like British countryside, huge old spooky houses, eccentric people, ghosts fairies, sheep What do you want I ask y [...]

Several years ago I read three books by Phil Rickman and was then frustrated that I couldn t find any others in local bookstores For some reason, the advent of didn t make me realize that I now had a way to find his books Until I got a Kindle for Christmas.In January I discovered Rickman s Merrily Watkins series, and I am hooked Since then I have read all of them except for the latest, which I will be reading shortly These books aren t classic horror, but instead follow the life and investigatio [...]

At a whim and because it came up in a group discussion, I decided this might make for good reading this time of year Not that this book is overpowered by what I call the woo woo factor, but there are plenty of eerie, mystical moments that helped me decide to add it to the Halloween book list.The Wine of Angels is the series opener featuring Merrily Watkins, who has just received her first real assignment as a newly ordained Anglican vicar While visiting the village of Ledwardine, Herefordshire, [...]

This story is what I call a slow burn The intensity of the story starts off gradually and builds to a crescendo Think Ravel s Bolero In fact, I think I will listen to the 17 minute clip of it on YouTube while I write this review It will probably take me that long to write it.I won t give a synopsis of the story line Read the book blurb and a couple pages of reviews, and you ll get the gist of it Better yet, just read the book What I really liked about this book was the slow burn and the characte [...]

The Merrily Watkins series is one of those genre by the back door series it s about the supernatural, but so subtle that readers normally put off by such things can read them as a dark crime novel without too much unease.Merrily Watkins is a single mother who, after the death of her husband, becomes ordained as a Vicar or as they prefer these days, a Priest in Charge After working in the drug dens and crime zones of Liverpool, she is given the picturesque country parish of Ledwardine and a big [...]

This is long and slow and suspenseful, and I very much liked the writing style It has lots of short chapters, many of which begin or end with a bit of misdirection I think this, along with the leisurely plotting, might annoy some readers but I was vastly entertained.The story is a contemporary mystery thriller with paranormal overtones, which were actually subtle than I was expecting The mystery at the heart is perhaps a little over the top, but the excellent writing makes up for it.The setup a [...]

I d give this a higher rating than two stars for Merrily s sections, but far too much time was spent on her daughter Jane s perspective Jane had the potential to grow up someday and become an interesting person, but was in the most irritating adolescent arrogant state for most of the book It really got up my nose that she has a sort of nature magic awakening as a result of being stupid enough to get dangerously drunk and yeah, just stupid The evil old country family plot didn t do much for me ei [...]

After a startling beginning, the book settles down into boring English countryside life to the point of proper tedium and outraged civility.I often felt as if I was reading a combination of Henry James and Jane Austen neither of whom I enjoy , but if you do you might enjoy this book.I was attracted to the book by the description that it had elements of the supernatural What little supernatural there was was too subtle for me a few dreams So, if you are not into the supernatural, this book may be [...]

This book is a mess but a very interesting mess, like a dragon s treasure mixed with a bookstore and thrown into a hurricane Well, maybe not quite that jumbled There s wonderful things to find like local superstitions and families behaving badly over the course of centuries, haunted houses and fairies and cider and mistaken identities and four different yet significant car crashes The main character is a young, beautiful vicar with a teenage daughter and a dead husband who engaged in criminal ac [...]

This the first Merrily Watkins mystery I ve read and it was great Well written, with detailed characterizations, it s a perfect Evil in an English Village creepy mystery.

THE WINE OF ANGLES Paranormal England Cont GRickman, Phil 1st in seriesPan, 1999 PaperbackRev Merrily Watkins and her daughter, Jane, have come to Merrily s first parish in the small town of Ledwardine a town whose history revolves around two families and the making of cider Shortly after arriving, Merrily attends a wassailing where one of the citizens dies from gunshot Merrily is beset with nightmares and the feeling there s literally than can be seen and involves a persecution from centuries [...]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I am a great fan of Phil Rickman and I have just watched the dramatization of Midwinter Of The Spirit on T.V which was excellent Merrily Watkins is a widow with a teenaged daughter She is also a vicar and not just an ordinary one but a Deliverance minister, a modern name for an exorcist After being ordained as a minister she is given her first parish in Liverpool where she learns to deal with many difficult inner city problems This however does not prepare her fo [...]

This is the third Watkins book that I have read I ve read them out of order The Watkins books tend to be slow builders Characters are fully developed and wonderfully human.Merrily is a new vicar, actually priest in charge, in a small English village that would not be out of place in a Christie novel, though a Bronte or MR James story would be suiting In some ways, this book is like a drama version of the Vicar of Dilby, at least in terms of the impact a woman vicar could have had on a village t [...]

I have been curious about the Merrily Watkins series for quite some time Unfortunately, this British series does not seem to have ever garnered Stateside popularity, so it is a bit difficult to get your hands on in the U.S But I have been slowly accumulating the series over the past few years as I have seen it in used book stores Now that I have acquired the first few books in order, I am finally ready to start reading it While this first volume was not as spooky or mysterious as I expected it t [...]

I ve had this book on my shelf for ages and whilst I ve been ill it seemed like a good time to pick it up The first in the Merrily Watkins series and what an introduction Rickman takes the time to build each character lovingly in the plot and desrcibes the village with historical detail yet enough gaps for you to install your own geographical surroundings I, for example, kept getting constantly reminded of the village of Wray or Settle but I m sure depending on where you ve experienced in our co [...]

This was not really my cup of tea, but I enjoyed it nonetheless I normally never read mystery stories They just don t do it for me I tried this one on recommendation from a friend It seemed like it had been such a long time since I had read a mystery that it was time to give them another chance This one is really well written The characters are fairly well fleshed out and likeable The story builds up nicely and has a pretty good finish.It s rather longish I have to admit, by the time I finished [...]

This was pretty good the end Nearly put it down and gave up a couple of times Had to get about 40% way through before I started to enjoy it Have already got the next instalment ready to read I liked the fact it was mystical paranormal genre but in a realistic and believable way which kind of made it creepier Also liked the complexity of the characters.

This is so much than a mystery, not really a horror novel though apparently these books are sometimes shelved as such , and mostly an interesting vision of late 20th century life in an upscale English village It is long, but not boring.

I look forward to the next one.

Bettie s Books

I enjoyed this, it s a mixture of the Archers and Midsummer Murders with a lot of folklore thrown in and some minor supernatural elements for good measure Quite a long read, with strong and interesting characters which I highly recommend It also made me go out and listen to Nick Drake too.

Just couldn t get into it then noticed that this is one of those will keep writing as long as they keep paying series without end and was even less motivated to get into it Think it would make a great TV show though.

Pretty good book, notable for doing atmosphere and ambiance well, which I always appreciate in fact, sometimes that s my favorite thing about a book Starts rather slowly but kept my interest The protagonist, Merrily, is to be a vicar for a small English town that was once known for its cider Some new people have moved into the town and want to capitalize on its history and start making cider again, for tourist money On top of this, a playwright and his actor boyfriend want to put on a play about [...]

I really enjoyed this book It is a deceptively simple read, full of hidden layers and depth Merrily Watkins Named after the Christmas carol Ding Dong Merrily on High because she was born on Christmas Day is a fairly inexperienced woman minister who has just been appointed Priest in Charge in the small sleepy rural village of Ledwardine, the Village in the Orchard.Not only do Merrily and her 15 year old daughter Jane have to adjust to the move to the country and the prejudices of the villagers to [...]

I very rarely rate a book 5 stars I am entirely too critical and picky This one, though, was almost PERFECT in my estimation I won t be writing an actual book review here, because I absolutely suck at them and no one would want to read this book based on my mess of a review.That said This is the second book that I ve read by Phil Rickman, and I m pretty sure he s my new favorite author I can t wait to read , and especially in the Merrily Watkins series This book seamlessly combined past and pre [...]

Reviewer Elizabeth There s wonderful things to find like local superstitions and families behaving badly over the course of centuries, haunted houses and fairies and cider and mistaken identities and four different yet significant car crashes The main character is a young, beautiful vicar with a teenage daughter and a dead husband who engaged in criminal activities Me I took this one on b c one of the titles in this Merrily Watkins series was recommended by Diana Gabaldon, and I wanted to be sur [...]

I was utterly bored at the start of this, I really didn t think I would finish it Too wordy, too much background that ended up not having much to do with what the ending was and whatever else that was presently going on could have been left out 589 pages Totally unnecessary But then Jane caught my attention and I felt I could actually finish Her storyline was much interesting and really had the whole book been about her, it would have been much satisfying With the last few chapters Rickman tur [...]

I ve come to this book, the first in the Merrily Watkins series, having started with no 8 in the series, The Remains of an Altar thus taking it in the wrong order And having read reviews of the entire series, my thoughts are that I enjoy the characters and am drawn in by all the areas of Rickman s interests But I find his plots slow moving This was a book I could put down, and then struggle to pick up all the plot and character threads when I returned to it Merrily herself is not quite convincin [...]

This sounded really good a small English village, a new woman who s also a single mother pastor from outside the town, sins and bad things from the distant past coming back to roost It all sounded clever and exciting.Unfortunately, the whole thing came across as dull, dry and plodding There was a lot of description that seemed irrelevant, the characters were either irritating or dull as dirt, and the story just was not interesting or engaging to me at all.In the interest of fairness, part of the [...]