Philip Rickman

The first book in the Dr. Dee series of Tudor thrillers, about the astrologer royal to Queen Elizabeth I--a brew of compelling storytelling, devious politics, witchcraft, and necromantic artsIt is 1560, and Elizabeth Tudor has been on the throne for a year. Dr John Dee, at 32 already acclaimed throughout Europe, is her astrologer and consultant in the hidden arts--a controversial appointment in these days of superstition and religious strife. Now the mild, bookish Dee has been sent to Glastonbury to find the missing bones of King Arthur, whose legacy was always so important to the Tudor line. With him is hardly the safest companion--his friend and former student, Robert Dudley, a risk-taker, a wild card, and possibly the Queen's secret lover. The famously mystical town is still mourning the gruesome execution of its Abbot, Richard Whiting. But why was the Abbot really killed? What is the secret held by the monks since the Abbey was founded by Joseph of Arimathea, uncle of Christ and guardian of the Holy Grail? The mission takes Dee to the tangled roots of English magic, into unexpected violence, necromantic darkness, the breathless stirring of first love, and the cold heart of a complex plot against Elizabeth.

The Bones of Avalon

The eigth book in Phil Rickman's critically acclaimed Merrily Watkins crime series

The Remains of an Altar

Phil Rickman

A Reverend Merrily Watkins Mystery (Merrily Watkins Mysteries)

The Smile of a Ghost

A medieval legend spawns an unhealthy cult, and a terrifying 13th case for Merrily Watkins. When autumn storms blast Hereford, centuries-old human bones are found among the roots of a tree blown down on the city's Castle Green. But why have they been stolen? At the nearby Cathedral, another storm is building around a new, modernizing bishop who believes that if the Church is to survive it must phase out irrelevant archaic practices. Not good news for Merrily Watkins, consultant on the paranormal or, as it used to be known, diocesan exorcist. Especially as she's now presented with the job at its most medieval. In the moody countryside on the edge of Wales, a rambling 12th-century house is thought to be haunted. Although its new owners don't believe in ghosts, they do believe in spiritual darkness and the need for exorcism. But their approach to Merrily is oblique and guarded. No-one can be told least of all, the new bishop. Merrily's discovery of the house's links with the medieval legend of a man who resisted mortality threatens to expose the hidden history of a more modern cult and its trail of insidious abuse a trail that may not be closed.

Friends of the dusk

Horror. Four young musicians gather at a ruined abbey to tap into the site's dark history, but they would be scarred forever by the forces they unleashed.

December

Summoned by William Cecil to address dangerous questions about Elizabeth I's legitimacy, royal astrologer John Dee teams up with Robert Dudley to retrieve the bones of King Arthur, a mission that is complicated by magic, a first love, and a complex plot against the queen

The Mysterious World of Merrily Watkins - History & Folklore, People & Places

Merrily's Border

The Places in Herefordshire & the Marches Behind the Merrily Watkins Novels

A disused church near a Welsh border hamlet has already been sold off by the Church when it's discovered that the new owners are pagans who intend to use the building for their own rituals. Rev. Merrily Watkins, the diocesan exorcist, is called in, unaware of a threat from a deranged man.

Philip Rickman

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