The Prayer of the Night Shepherd
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The sixth Merrily Watkins mystery finds her daughter embarking on a first job, and running into a dark local legend
A crumbling hotel on the border of England and Wales, a suggestion of inherited evil, a strange love affair, and the long-disputed origins of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. Fascinating for young Jane Watkins, flushed by the freedom of her first weekend job. But the sinister side becomes increasingly apparent to her mother, Merrily, diocesan exorcist for Hereford. Then come memories of a child-killer, blood in the fresh snow.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When unemployed TV producer Ben Foley discovers that running murder-mystery weekends at Stanner Hall, an old Herefordshire mansion turned hotel he's purchased, isn't as profitable as he anticipated, he determines to prove his theory that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had in mind a tale from the Welsh border region, not Devon, for the background to The Hound of the Baskervilles. In British author Rickman's chilling fifth entry in his occult crime series (The Lamp of the Wicked, etc.) featuring Merrily Watkins, the single mom, Anglican priest and exorcist gets involved in sinister doings rooted in actual legend, as the author explains in his afterword. Merrily's independent 17-year-old daughter, Jane, takes a job with the hotel and enthusiastically supports Foley's plans, until the local legend of a black dog that foreshadows death becomes all too real. A pre-Christmas snowstorm provides a shivering backdrop to events at Stanner Hall that lead Merrily, boyfriend Lol Robinson and Jane into a night none of them will forget. Human greed and evil, plus the healing properties of faith, combine to create a fascinating and fast-paced read. Sherlock Holmes fans, especially members of the Baker Street Irregulars, will be intrigued by an organization called"The Baker Street League."
