When a man's body is discovered near the picturesque town of Hay-on-Wye, his death appears to be 'unnatural' in every sense. Merrily Watkins is drafted in to investigate.

'Rickman's writing style reflects his subject matter: spooky and indirect, elegantly crafted but always a sense of shadow behind you, that you've missed something you should have seen.' - New York Review Of Books

'The wind was rising. A smokey cloud-mass shaped like a rabbit made a forward bound in slow motion and came apart over Hay Castle a mile away on the horizon . . .'

Hay-on-Wye: the Welsh-border town that became world-famous for declaring independence and crowning its own king. But now black clouds are gathering, to meet rising shadows from the past. As the town fights for its future, a man drowns in a deep pool below a waterfall, a woman disappears, and diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins - alone and vulnerable - uncovers a secret history of dark magic and ritual murder.

The twelfth Merrily Watkins Mystery - The Magus of Hay - from Phil Rickman, the bestselling author of The John Dee Papers.

About the Author
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 acclaimed author of The Heresy of Dr Dee, The Bones of Avalon, Midwinter of the Spirit (now a major ITV series), the Merrily Watkins series and the John Dee Papers. Visit his website at: www.philrickman.co.uk.

Reviews
Interweaves the threads of murder, police procedure, the power of landscape and faint but potent wisps of the supernatural to produce a literary cloth of gold. A unique talent in cracking form. * Crime Fiction Lover *
Rickman's writing style reflects his subject matter: spooky and indirect, elegantly crafted but always a sense of shadow behind you, that you've missed something you should have seen. * New York Review Of Books *
Hell, it's good. I ended up turning the pages faster and faster, even though I wanted to stretch it out as long as possible. * Crime Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9780857898685
Author Phil Rickman
Format Paperback
Page Count 480
Imprint Corvus
Publisher Atlantic Books
Weight(grams) 333g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 28mm