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The Smile of a Ghost (Merrily Watkins Mysteries)
 
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The Smile of a Ghost (Merrily Watkins Mysteries) (Hardcover)

by Phil Rickman (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
RRP: £17.99
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Frequently Bought Together

The Smile of a Ghost (Merrily Watkins Mysteries) + Remains of an Altar: A Merrily Watkins Mystery (Merrily Watkins Mysteries) + The Fabric of Sin: A Merrily Watkins Mystery (Merrily Watkins Mysteries)
Price For All Three: £26.59

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 544 pages
  • Publisher: Macmillan; 1st ed. edition (18 Nov 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1405051698
  • ISBN-13: 978-1405051699
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 4.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 108,441 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Maxim Jakubowski, The Guardian.

'A first class thriller with a difference'


Andrew Taylor, Spectator Books of the Year.

'Rickman's crime series is one of the best around.'
See all Product Description

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Customer Reviews

18 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars super and natural, 9 Jun 2007
By Julia M. Walker (NY Finger Lakes) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Smile of a Ghost (Merrily Watkins Mysteries) (Paperback)
If I had known before I bought the first Merrily Watkins novel (The Wine of Angels) that Merrily is an exorcist, I probably would have saved my money. But I didn't know, and now I'm hooked.

The characters are fabulous - Merrily, the sometimes hapless vicar; Jane, the pagan daughter; Gomer, the archetypal local; Lol, the fragile folk-rock mystery. Any and all of these will fix your attention and concern, to say nothing of a wide array of secondary characters and ghosts. OK, the ghosts sound hard to take, but Rickman carefully constructs Merrily's vocation, making the line between spiritual work and work with spirits very faint indeed. The vicar's faith is remarkably practical and so are most of the problems she faces.

The plots grow out of the settings on the Welsh border, exquisitely detailed in all the books. In Smile of a Ghost, the town of Ludlow becomes another character, in some ways the principal victim. Of all the books, this one has the most subtly integrated element of the supernatural: you can take it or leave it.

If the exorcist plot makes you nervous, start with this book and see if your concerned affection for Merrily, Lol, Jane and others doesn't over-come your hesitation.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Anticipated more than Dan Brown!, 4 Jun 2006
This review is from: The Smile of a Ghost (Merrily Watkins Mysteries) (Paperback)
I've read every one of Phil Rickman's / Will Kingdom's books and have found them utterly un-put-downable. I'd already started a Dan Brown when Mr Rickman's latest offering dropped through the letter box, but Dan was discarded in favour of Phil. As usual, there is the careful crafting of an intricate story, with a deceptively slow start. It's a case of drip, drip, drip, FLOOD! with this book. A lot happens very quickly in the last few chapters and it took a while to decipher all the connections. This was very good, but not quite Mr Rickman's best offering. It is still well worth buying & I've already recommended it to my friends. I'm disappointed that I've already finished the book and I look forward to the next offering.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The smile of a reader, 17 Nov 2005
By T. Williams (Mariposa, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
In this the seventh of his Merrily Watkins novels, Phil Rickman once again proves that you really can't get too much of a good thing. While The Smile of a Ghost does not find the Rev. Merrily Watkins in such dire or dark supernatural peril she has contended with previously, the demons she must face are just as chilling -- the possible elimination of her very role as Deliverance Minister by modernizing forces in the Church as well as her own self-doubt. And this crisis couldn't have come at a worse time -- in the midst of a tragic trend of teen suicides, possibly influenced by a 12th century ghost and a very hauntingly real "ghost" of sorts from Merrily's Goth days of the more recent past.

In spite of this novel's thematic seriousness, Rickman manages to weave subtle strands of wit and humor throughout, and his astounding facility with character and dialogue only gets better with each book. Through his superb crafting of narrative perspective, the personalities of Rickman's characters' seem to hijack their way from chapter to chapter with an amazing fluidity that makes the book very hard to put down.

If you're a regular reader of Rickman's novels, this newest one will not disappoint. If you're new to the novels of Phil Rickman, you're in for a treat. Either way, The Smile of a Ghost will leave a reader smiling.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars minor glitch
Hello Amazon. I think your computer's buggered again.

You seem to have lost 16 reviews from this title,
seventeen from The Wine of Angels, and similar... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Philip A. Rickman

4.0 out of 5 stars Another solid read from Rickman...
I don't know about anyone else but when I'm reading about Merrily Watkins I can't help but imagine her as the Vicar of Dibbly (Dawn French). Read more
Published 2 months ago by C. L. Ridley

4.0 out of 5 stars Feel free to roll your eyes
I came by this book by chance. Stood in a Ludlow bookshop, the cover looked vaguely like Ludlow itself. It was! Read more
Published 4 months ago by Nicholas Casley

5.0 out of 5 stars Mainstream Merrily
Phil Rickman continues to keep the supernatural element of the series on the back burner which funnily enough makes the ghost all the more real when it's glimpsed momentarily in... Read more
Published on 3 Oct 2007 by A. Watson

5.0 out of 5 stars A balance in appreciation
Interesting reviews so far with a wide range of thought. I Live 2 miles from Ludlow and for me, this book threw things both familiar and unknown into the spotlight and I owe Phil... Read more
Published on 6 Jul 2007 by Mrs. S. M. Abson

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but not the best
Having read most of Mr Rickmans work and all of the Merrily Watkins series I have to say that though this book is good and way better than most of its peers it is not as brilliant... Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2006 by Andrew Foulds

3.0 out of 5 stars Been there, done that.
Well it had to happen.......Phil Rickman finally writes an iffy novel. Mr Rickman, and his alter ego Will Kingdom, has been a personal favourite for many years and I've always... Read more
Published on 13 Jul 2006 by M. Marshall

5.0 out of 5 stars Deliciously Readable!
Was recommended this book by a friend and it did not disappoint!

I sometimes feel a little let down by thriller novels which often have thinly sketched characters... Read more
Published on 11 May 2006 by Ms. S. M. Orme

5.0 out of 5 stars Psycho-geography on the Border
The Smile of a Ghost is another page-turner from Phil Rickman who continues to play with his "did or didn't the paranormal cause the murder" theme. Read more
Published on 7 May 2006 by haywriter

2.0 out of 5 stars First ever disappointment from Phil Rickman
After reading everything Rickman over the years and really enjoying them all, this just leaves me cold (and not 'cos it's spooky!). Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2006

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