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    The Magus of Hay
    The Magus of Hay
    The Magus of Hay
    Ebook532 pages9 hours

    The Magus of Hay

    By Phil Rickman

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    When a man's body is discovered in the picturesque town of Hay-on-Wye, his death appears to be "unnatural" in every sense. Merrily Watkins, parish priest, single mother, and exorcist, is drafted in to investigate, in this 12th installment

    A man's body is found below a waterfall. It looks like suicide or an accidental drowning—until DI Frannie Bliss enters the dead man's home. What he finds there sends him to Merrily Watkins, the Diocese of Hereford's official advisor on the paranormal. It's been nearly 40 years since Hay was declared an independent state by its self-styled king—a development seen at the time as a joke, a publicity scam. But behind this pastiche a dark design was taking shape, creating a hidden history of murder and ritual-magic, the relics of which are only now becoming horribly visible. It's a situation that will take Merrily Watkins—alone for the first time in years—to the edge of madness.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtlantic Books
    Release dateJun 1, 2014
    ISBN9780857898678
    The Magus of Hay
    Author

    Phil Rickman

    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, The Heresy of Dr Dee and the Merrily Watkins Mysteries.

    Read more from Phil Rickman

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    Reviews for The Magus of Hay

    4.5/5

    6 ratings6 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Might be I'm getting a trifle tired of this series, but this one seemed a little lackluster. I have a feeling the world of Merrily is due for a major overhaul: Rickman breaks with the characters he's been using as types and alternative viewpoints in the last several novels, but he doesn't seem to have quite settled on how he's going to move forward. The next one, I think, will either rejuvinate or close the series.
    • 3/5
      Despite the subject matter of these stories - religion, demons, evil, mysticism - which were not immediately obviously to my taste, they were always wedded into something a bit more tangible like Gomer and the daughter. Once the daughter had grown up and the love interest had pretty much resolved, this outing seemed a bit more pedestrian, which lead me to me giving up on it. I do hope the series recovers because I really enjoyed the earlier episodes.
    • 5/5
      Another great addition to the series. Missed Jane and Gomer but as the author says you don't travel with the same people everyday. Enjoying the development of Bliss and Annie. Interesting plot regarding Hay. Loved the slight spookiness as usual.
    • 5/5
      In my opinion, there's no such thing as a BAD Merrily Watkins novel. It's one of the very best mystery series on the market. But I actually thought this installment was better and more interesting than most. Less cozy mystery and more police procedural, it moves faster than most of them, although there are fewer personal details of Merrily's life, which I can imagine some fans might miss. Personally, even though it's a little different, I really enjoyed it.
    • 3/5
      My favourite ghost-buster is back…well, back in late 2013, but only now was I able to read it.

      I read more than most people, typically from fifty to a hundred books a year, and it is unfortunate that there are enough absolutely first-class books around that I'm not going to have time to finish them all. I won't even get close. Shame on me. That’s why I sometimes feel guilty to spend some time with books that at first seem to be entirely frivolous. This impression is just that. An impression, a feeling. Fortunately the Merrily Watkins series is more than meets the eye. This makes me feel less guilty…


      The rest of this review can be found on my blog.
    • 5/5
      Merrily, on her own as Lol is on tour and Jane and Eirion are away on an archaeological dig, is supposed to be on holiday. Frannie Bliss is back on the job following the events at the end of The Secrets of Pain, even more damaged and dangerous than before. Bliss is investigating the mysterious death of 93 year old David Hambling in Cusop, on the English side of the Wye. It seems that Hambling is a magician, so he calls in Merrily to help him investigate and understand Hambling’s life. They discover that Hambling had moved and changed his name, as he’d written a best seller about the Nazi’s and the occult and as a result may have attracted unwanted followers from amongst the neo-Nazi’s. Merrily is forced to consult her nemesis, Athena White and the trail leads them to Hay. With Ethel and Gomer only making cameo appearances its good that Athena is not the only returning character as at Hay Merrily encounters characters from A Crown of Lights and Gwyn Arthur Jones, now retired and running a bookshop and Betty and Robin Thorogood who are in the process of opening their own pagan bookshop and trying to deal with a darkness within their shop, which may or may not be connected to Hambling. This is one of the darkest books in the series, but also possibly the best.

    Book preview

    The Magus of Hay - Phil Rickman

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