Phil Rickman: The Lamp of the Wicked (UK 2011)

From the Publisher:
'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?

Phil Rickman: The Lamp of the Wicked. Corvus Books, ISBN: 9780857890139 (December, 2011), 624 p., £8.99.

Phil Rickman: The Lamp of the Wicked (UK 2003)

From the Publisher:
It appears that the unlovely village of Underhowle is home to a serial killer. But as the police hunt for the bodies of more young women, Rev. Merrily Watkins fears that the detective in charge has become blinkered by ambition. Meanwhile, Merrily has more personal problems, like the anonymous phone calls, the candles and incense left burning in her church, and the alleged angelic visitations.

Phil Rickman: The Lamp of the Wicked. A Merrily Watkins Mystery. Pan, ISBN: 033049032X (October, 2003), 563 p., £6.99.

Phil Rickman: The Lamp of the Wicked (UK 2003)

From the Publisher:
lEectricity pylons now mark the old Roman road from Gloucester to Monmouth. Midway along it is the unlovely village of Underhowle, confronting a new prosperity... but also home to a man the police have identified as the killer of several young women. But for the local exorcist, Rev. Merrily Watkins, this truth might never have emerged-but is that the whole truth? For, as the police hunt for more bodies, Merrily is increasingly worried that the detective in charge might have become blinkered by ambition. Meanwhile, Merrily has more personal problems: like the anonymous phone calls... the candles and incense left burning in her church... not to mention the alleged angelic visitations on which many will heap scorn. It is her musician boyfriend Lol who follows an unexpected path into the mind of the confessed murderer, while Merrily herself must quell revulsion in scrubbing away the psychic stain left by a dead monster.

Phil Rickman: The Lamp of the Wicked. A Merrily Watkins Mystery. Macmillan, ISBN: 0333908058 (April, 2003), 551 p., £10.00.