Friends of the Dusk

This is the thirteenth book in Rickman’s Merrily Watkins Series, featuring Merrily Watkins as a middle-aged Anglican vicar based in Hereford in England who is a consultant on the paranormal and diocesan exorcist.

Merrily is called to a remote house near the Welsh borders thought to be haunted and finds not just the house, but the whole valley suffused with an ancient presence. The local police are investigating two murders and it becomes clear that these are tied to the support of the evil Merrily has been asked to challenge. Alongside this, Merrily is faced with a new Bishop who does not believe in and wants to close her exorcism practice and her daughter Jane who is facing some internal emotional struggle she will not share with show more Merrily.

Characterisation is key to enjoying this book. All the characters are very well drawn, believable and have well-rounded lives. Their relationships feel honest and their responses to each other and events are real. Merrily in particular is well defined. Her struggle to walk the fine line between science and the supernatural and her ultimate belief in her religious vocation are at the heart of the book.

I found the ending rather rushed and a little anti-climactic as the immediate source of the haunting is resolved but the wider question of the evil uncovered is left open too speculation. Merrily’s accommodation with her new Bishop seems rather implausible.

An excellent mystery that does not rely on explicit depictions of violence or horror. show less

There's rather a lot of exposition in the first 60 pages or so (characters explaining all kinds of things--relationships, situations--I already know about from having read the previous books). I know this sort of thing might be thought of as necessary, but when the solution is stilted, credulity-beggaring conversations, then it's worse than the problem. Other than that a good if unremarkable addition to this now quite long series of novels.

All the Merrily Watkins books are very good. This one was, if anything, a particularly strong installment, maybe just because I've been away so long...

In which we are reunited with the charming but slightly dodgy Mr Raji Khan (from "Remains of an Altar"), and Jane gets her mum and Gomer to start vaping!