The Lamp of the Wicked (Merrily Watkins Mysteries)

'You're looking at his inspiration. These are ones he wishes he'd done, the ones he wishes he'd got to first...' After half a century of decay, the village of Underhowle looked to be on the brink of a new prosperity. Now, instead, it seems destined for notoriety as the home of a psychotic serial killer. DI Francis Bliss, of Hereford CID, is convinced he knows where the bodies are buried. But Merrily Watkins, called in to conduct a controversial funeral, wonders if Bliss isn't blinkered by personal ambition. And are the Underhowle deaths really linked to perhaps the most sickening killings in British criminal history? Overshadowed by high-voltage power lines, the unlovely village of Underhowle is on the brink of a new prosperity after half a century of decay. But the community is also home a to a man the police have identified as the killer of several young women. Had it not been for the Rev Merrily Watkins, Deliverance Consultant to the Diocese of Hereford, and her gravedigger, Gomer Parry, the truth might never have emerged. But is it the whole truth? As the police search for more bodies, Merrily worries that the detective in charge might have become blinkered by personal ambition. And when, after the horrific climax to a very public confession, she is asked to conduct a controversial funeral, she becomes exposed to hidden tensions in Underhowle, as volatile as the 400,000 volts passing overhead. For is there really connection with the most sickening series of murders recorded in Britain in the past century? Meanwhile, in her home parish of Ledwardine, Merrily has more intimate problems: the need for discretion over her new relationship with the musician Lol Robinson; and the alleged angelic visitations on which even her usually impressionable daughter heaps scorn. Battling his own demons to face an audience for the first time in nearly twenty years, Lol follows an unexpected path into the mind of the confessed murderer while Merrily tries to quell her own revulsion in an effort to scrub away the psychic stain left by a dead monster. Merrily must unearth the mysteries of the decaying village of Underhowle, and tackle a particularly stubborn Detective Inspector who strays off course... 'Few writers blend the ancient and supernatural with the modern and criminal better than Rickman.' - Guardian 'You're looking at his inspiration. These are ones he wishes he'd done, the ones he wishes he'd got to first.' After half a century of decay, the village of Underhowle looked to be on the brink of a new prosperity. Now, instead, it seems destined for notoriety as the home of a psychotic serial killer. DI Frannie Bliss, of Hereford CID, is convinced he knows where the bodies are buried, but Merrily Watkins wonders if Bliss isn't blinkered by personal ambition. Are the Underhowle deaths really linked to the legacy of Fred West and the most sickening cycle of killings in British criminal history? In Merrily's fifth outing, a serial killer appears to be on the loose—and Merrily has her doubts about the detective in charge of the case After half a century of decay, the village of Underhowle looked to be on the brink of a new prosperity. Now, instead, it seems destined for notoriety as the home of a psychotic serial killer. DI Francis Bliss, of Hereford CID, is convinced he knows where the bodies are buried. But Merrily Watkins, called in to conduct a controversial funeral, wonders if Bliss isn't blinkered by personal ambition. And are the Underhowle deaths really linked to perhaps the most sickening killings in British criminal history? The fifth instalment in the Merrily Watkins series: Merrily must unearth the mysteries of the decaying village of Underhowle, and tackle a particularly stubborn Detective Inspector who strays off course...