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The Cure of Souls (Merrily Watkins Mysteries) Paperback – October 1, 2011

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Phil Rickman (Author)
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4.7 out of 5 stars 23 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Series: Merrily Watkins Mysteries (Book 4)
  • Paperback: 560 pages
  • Publisher: Atlantic Books; Reprint edition (October 1, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0857890123
  • ISBN-13: 978-0857890122
  • Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.5 x 7.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #597,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThe ties that 'bine'
By T. Williams on September 19, 2002
Format: Hardcover
The Cure of Souls, Rickman's fourth novel featuring the Rev. Merrily Watkins, finds her settled, more or less, into her role as diocesan deliverance minister. But in spite of the experience she has gained, the job seems only to grow more difficult; this case in particular so blurs the line between good and evil that Merrily begins to doubt herself, uncertain how--or even whom--to free from spiritual bondage.
The diseased crops of the Frome Valley are an apt metaphor for the psychic condition of those now living there. Something is sucking the life out of not only the land but of the residents as well. What remains of the once flourishing valley draped in hop bines is now a rural waste-landscape.
The land's loss of vitality is painfully evident to Lol Robinson, Merrily's would-be lover, who is about to re-enter Merrily's life.
After going off to take courses in psychotherapy, Lol is led by his professor to the Frome Valley's legendary luthier, Al Boswell, from whom Lol learns not only about the region's gypsy heritage, but that the Romany ways still pervade the lives of those who live ... and die ... in there. And from this culture there comes a psychic adversary as mysterious as the Romany themselves.
Lol's close encounter with the legendary "Lady of the bines" leads him to the vicarage of Reverend Simon St. John and his wife, the intriguing Isabel. Simon's refusal to exorcise the possesed house belonging a local "entrepreneur" places the task in Merrily's hands as local exorcist. Merrily, Lol and Simon soon realize that it will take all three of them--and more--to deliver this town from the evil that plagues it.
In perfect contrast to the wilt and waste of the main setting is the continued flourishing of Merrily's "flower," her indomitable daughter Jane.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsNot much of a cure....
By ilmk on November 27, 2003
Format: Hardcover
Rickman's fourth Merrily Watkins mystery (and ninth book overall) has our diocesian exorcist (or deliverance minister) struggling as always to deal with her life fighting the supernatural and the very real troubles of bringing up her sixteen year old, daughter, Jane, plus her own personal issues. From the start, the chain-smoking minister finds herself having to deal with a claimed case of demonic possession as a previously well brought up and God-fearing teenage girl, Amy Shelbourne, starts renouncing God and refusing to go to Church to the dismay of her devout foster parents. We are quickly given a reason as Amy claims (which we know is a lie from the opening prologue) that Jane forced her into a ouija board session and she met the spirit of her real mother, Justine.
Running concurrently is a plotline involving Lol Robinson (he who denies his true feelings for Merrily) who is back in the recording studios, down the road from Merrily, at Prof Levinson's request to record a new album. Meanwhile, in Knight's Frome we find the new-age squire, Adam Lake, rebuying all the land up that his ancestor lost under a curse. The story runs that if you see the ghost of centuries-ago murdered Lady of the Bines (whom Lol inadvertently runs into very early on) then your hop harvest will fail. Lake runs into a PR adversary, Gerard Stock, the son-in-law of the recently murdered Stewart who has inherited land that Lake wants to rebuy. As such a very neighbourly feud takes on a supernatural slant as Stock goes to the papers after the local vicar, Simon St John, refuses to perform an exorcism on the place that Stock, claims is haunted.
By the time we make it halfway through, Amy Shelbourne has attempted suicide and Merrily is called into Stock's house to perform the first exorcism (or `Cure of Souls').Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 stars"The Deliverance Ministry is here to listen and advise"
By Marc Ruby™ HALL OF FAMEVINE VOICE on October 13, 2006
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Not having read all of Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins stories it's a bit forward to say that The Cure of Souls is the best or the spookiest or any other such superlative. But rest assured, this one will magnetize you in spite of it's length as it draws you into an intense dissertation on the nature of evil as Merrily, still new to the role of deliverance minister (exorcist) confronts a darkness that confuses the innocent and the guilty, condemned to repeat itself like the hearth and field rituals that it imitates.

The pieces of this tale are complex. Merrily's daughter Jane falls in with a high school divining circle led by a wannabee gypsy witch, rich, spoiled, and to brash to realize the price of her own selfish manipulations. When Merrily herself tries tohelp on of the girls Jane's own actions cause Merrily's motives to be questioned. Then Merrily agrees to an exorcism that fails spectacularly with murder and death shortly to follow. She finds herself catapulted into a public role that could mean the loss of her ministry and all that she treasures. And Lol, the closest thing Merrily has to a romantic interest, finds himself in the same complex web when he sets out to help an old friend build a music studio in one of the old hop kilns that dot the Herefordshire countryside and runs into the echo of a legend of an older murder.

Rickman uses a rich pallet of local color to make this tale of parallel murders and possession to make this a tale something more than a murder mystery. Merrily's Herefordshire is caught in a conflict between the old traditions of hop farming and oncoming gentrification. Old money, the new rich and the simpler folk of town and country all participate in making this story as memorable for its characters as it is for the story itself.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 starsNot a fan

I have read several of these books, and quite frankly they so not appeal to my literary palate. Different strokes for different folks.

Published 8 months ago by Caroline Jacobson
5.0 out of 5 starsabsolutely hooked

One of those mysteries you almost forget it's a mystery as u r lost in the characters and their lives.

Published 8 months ago by Judith A. Chandler
5.0 out of 5 starsI really enjoy the Merrily Watkins books

I really enjoy the Merrily Watkins books. All have interesting plots and characters.

Published 11 months ago by Audrey S. Clark
5.0 out of 5 starsThe Cure of Souls

Lol Robinson is living in the Herefordshire countryside and working with Prof Levin who has a recording studio. Read more

Published on June 5, 2013 by Damaskcat
5.0 out of 5 starsMy favorite "Merrily" novel..... still

Phi Rickman's "Merrily" series is highly addictive.The 4th in this well crafted series is one of my favorites. Read more

Published on February 23, 2013 by Crystal Goddess
4.0 out of 5 starsFormulaic - had a feeling of deja vu as I read this book (my 3rd in...

I read the first two Merrily Watkins books and liked them very well, so I was really looking forward to reading this one. Read more

Published on September 21, 2012 by M. C. Crammer
5.0 out of 5 starsReally pulls you in!

This fourth of the Rev. Merrily Watkins mystery series is a fine example of a book you just want to hunker down with. Read more

Published on June 12, 2012 by Larry B.
5.0 out of 5 starsWow! I think this fourth book is the best yet in the series!!

Well, maybe not quite the very best because the ending was more unresolved than any of the previous books in the series (which honestly, could stand alone, but I would recommend... Read more

Published on May 8, 2012 by Yolanda S. Bean
5.0 out of 5 starsCompulsive Reading

Having read most of Phil Rickman's other books, I knew what to expect from this one. I was not disappointed. Read more

Published on August 30, 2011 by jo
5.0 out of 5 starsCure for the jobless

I love this series. Phil Rickmam draws you in quickly and completely. The reader can feel and see the story unfold with perfect timimg.

Published on April 11, 2011 by cshores

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