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The Prayer of the Night Shepherd (Merrily Watkins Mysteries)
 
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The Prayer of the Night Shepherd (Merrily Watkins Mysteries) (Paperback)

by Phil Rickman (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 630 pages
  • Publisher: Pan Books; New edition edition (15 Oct 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0330490338
  • ISBN-13: 978-0330490337
  • Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 11.2 x 4.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 212,065 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

DAILY MAIL
First rate.

ANDREW TAYLOR, SHERLOCK MAGAZINE
Settings and characters are pitch-perfect. Complex, absorbing, fascinating...

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but probably the worst in the series, 5 Dec 2004
The sixth "Merrily Watkins" book is an enjoyable read, but the series shows signs of flagging.

Merrily's newly-instituted Sunday Evening Services have gained a reputation as "healing" services, and she is asked to help a man with asthma - but his problems lie far deeper. Her daughter Jane has started a new job at Stanner Hall, whose new owner hopes to turn it into a thriving hotel - based on his theory that Arthur Conan Doyle once stayed there, and that many local legends were combined to form the basis of "The Hound of the Baskervilles". Meanwhile local farmer Jeremy Berrows finds love with a woman with a mysterious past...

Phil Rickman has toned down his style a little - not every chapter/section ends on a cliff-hanger, but this tends to slow the pace somewhat. He hasn't given up his annoying habit of cranking up the tension (which he does admirably) without giving the reader the "pay off" - the story will jump to after the action, with dialogue filling in what happened. The supernatural element is toned down yet further too; it's almost as if he has his eye on a Sunday night ITV adaptation (one has been mooted). This is probably great for the general public (six books with a seventh in the works is good going!), but not so good for genre fans, who will probably feel cheated. I also felt that elements of the main plot covered a lot of the same ground as the 5th (far superior) book, which had the added benefit of being based on a real person.

On a lighter note, I wish he hadn't named the Jamaican priest "Jeavons", as I kept visualising actor Colin Jeavons (especially after catching him playing Lestrade in a Holmes dramatisation recently!).

Well worth a read if you've been following the series, as there are some nice developments between Lol and Merrily, but by far the weakest entry in the series to date. I'd like to see Rickman either phase out the supernatural element entirely, turning the series into a sharper, sexier "Father Doyle Mysteries", or (preferably) to put pedal to the metal and go all out on the supernatural front. It would be cool if he was lulling his audience into a false sense of security for a killer climax to the series, but I suspect that he's not going to kill his cash cow.

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Black Eyed Dog - He Called At My Door, 15 Sep 2007
By A. Watson "allan watson" (Glasgow) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
One of the principal rules of ensuring a long running genre series retains its stamina and mass appeal is knowing the precise moment to change the dynamic. Avoidance of this fact inevitably results in character stagnation, plot repetition and eventual banishment to the twilight zone of a publishers back catalogue. Thankfully Rickman is a canny enough writer to realise Merrily can't go tilting at (haunted) windmills in every book and in `The Prayer of the Night Shepherd' he wisely reins in the supernatural elements of previous novels and gives his characters breathing space to evolve. Not to say that Rickman has stripped the novel of all things that go-bump-in-the-night. Far from it, but there is a more subtle sleight-of-hand approach to the unquiet dead this time around, allowing the focus of the story to develop into a stylish who-done-it mystery that would do credit to Sherlock Holmes whose creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle features prominently in the story line.
The central thrust of the plot concerns the legend of a `Black Dog' whose unwelcome appearance foretells of a death in a local family and is attributed to be the inspiration for `The Hound of the Baskervilles'. Meanwhile Merrily is becoming the focal point of alleged miracle working when a woman claims to have been cured of cancer at a meditation and prayer session. Another disturbing plot strand involves children who kill - and it's here that Lol Robinson finally emerges from the shadows of Merrily's cassock to show his true mettle. These stories and other curious tales wind around each other like a nest of hissing serpents - and as you would expect there is a twist of Chubby Checker proportions at the finale.
Another excellent book from Phil Rickman in the Merrily Watkin's Deliverance Procedurals.
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