In a Victorian mansion turned hotel on the Welsh border, Ben Foley, a redundant TV drama producer, hosts unprofitable murder-mystery weekends and feeds his dream - to show beyond all doubt that this is where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle found the inspiration for The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Local tradition argues that the origins of The Hound lie not on Dartmoor but in the Herefordshire legend of a black dog foreshadowing death in the Vaughan family. Young Jane Watkins, whose first weekend job is at the Stanner Hall Hotel, is intrigued. But Jane's mother, Merrily Watkins, Deliverance Consultant to the Diocese of Hereford, is unhappy when she learns how Ben Foley proposes to try to prove his theory.

As the days shorten and the weather worsens, Foley's dabbling uncovers more than he can handle. For the history of Stanner Hall is linked not only to the Victorian fascination with spiritualism and a legacy of a medieval exorcism but with a chain of murders that is far from fictional.

Merrily Watkins, already dragged into the treacherous mire of spiritual healing, must now consider the possibility of inherited evil and the nature and validity of a lingering family curse.

The Prayer of the Night Shepherd is about sexual obsession, spiritual trickery and blood-betrayal. And, muffled under a shroud of snow....the dark side of the border.

 
I look forward with eager anticipation to every new Merrily Watkins novel and this one was no exception. It's the sixth outing for Merrily, and the characters have become thoroughly developed, to the point they feel like friends, and so I can't wait to find out what new challenges Phil Rickman will throw at them. The one thing I learnt very early on reading Rickman, and that's that he's entirely unafraid of changing his characters fundamentally, or even killing them, if it ultimately furthers the story line so you just never can tell what he might do.

 
July 28th 2004
Up to Page 325

Phew! The story so far is breathtaking, face paced and quite a ride! This time the action primarily revolves around Jane and her involvement with Ben Foley, an actor and entrepreneur who has bought Stanner Hall and is trying to exploit a dubious connection with Arthur Conan Doyle in order to sell murder mystery weekends to tourists. At least that's what he tells Jane he is doing. In reality he's trying to drum up some rather more dangerous visitors to the Hall, and Jane is trapped right in the middle of the action with no way past the snow drifts.

As with all Rickman's works this book is beautifully written, and he uses incredibly descriptive language to create a brooding, atmospheric backdrop. The legend this book is based around, The Hound of Hergest, seems familiar to me but I've honestly no idea if it's a real myth or if the author made up the legend for use with this book but my experience of Rickman is that he knows his history and I would be surprised to hear it wasn't true, which makes it all the more interesting. The Sherlock Holmes hook is also excellently woven into the border mythology so that it's hard to distinguish fact from fiction; that makes the story all the more spooky, and a pleasure to read.

Phil Rickman really is a master of suspense novels based around supernatural myths and legends. I've never known a writer manage to incorporate so much mood and oppression into their work, nor create such a multitude of characters, each with their own distinctive voice.

I really can't wait to read on and find out how the story, which is just beginning to build into a terrifying crescendo, will end and how the events at Stanner Hall will unfold.

 
August 6th 2004
The End

Wow, what a ride! Once again Phil Rickman delivers in the most satisfying and unexpected ways.

In this book more than any other to date he begins to edge towards a serious confirmation of the supernatural, as far as Jane at least is concerned. It is always interesting to see how Rickman balances the ordinary and mundane things in life that can be attributed to ghosts and their ilk with the 'real' dark forces that his leading lady, Rev. Merrily Watkins, deals with in her job as Deliverance Minister. A little too much of the demonic and the book would go from being utterly believable to utterly absurd, and Phil Rickman never crosses that line.

In this book the author weaves an elaborate web of intrigue revolving around an ancient curse and the implications it has on the modern bloodline that were the inspiration for Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. I think this is one of his best novels to date, because of the craft involved in staying true to the legend (which it turns out wasn't made up at all!).

The story is as much to do with old boundary disputes as with the underworld, and I loved that there were so many layers to the tale. I really enjoyed Jane, who has gone from the annoying brat-child to a fairly interesting and likeable young woman, which I never thought was going to be possible. The relationship between Jane and Merrily is always a little strained, and Phil writes them both so well that I ache for them, as I remember the awful teen years between myself and my mother. I'm very curious to see how he handles the next phase of Merrily and Jane's life, and if he includes Jane's college years in the narrative or instead sets future books during her holiday times...or even writes her out completely. It did feel sometimes that this was more a Jane Watkins novel than a Merrily one, which was the only niggle I had with this story.

There were a plethora of twists and turns in this book, that kept you guessing and interested right through to the last page. It was a really awesome read, and the conclusion to the tale was so beautiful, and so subtle that I couldn't help but be incredibly impressed. I love Phil Rickman's work, and I'm always left gagging for more. I can't wait to see what he pulls out of the bag next.