The Prayer Of The Night Shepherd (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
The Prayer of the Night Shepherd is the sixth entry in the Merrily Watkins series. As is the case with any novel based on a set of recurring characters, this could either be a cause for celebration or a cookie-cutter rehash of previous novels. For some authors, this would be just another paint-by-the-numbers exercise that would build on previous successes but fail to break new ground. Thankfully, this isn't the case with Rickman and his most recent work. He gives faithful readers all of the suspense and supernatural intrigue they've come to love while throwing a fresh slant on the story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles.Like so many of Rickman's novels, this one is set on the mysterious Welsh border. In particular, it is set in a Victorian hotel that is rumored to be the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. The cast of characters who live and operate at that hotel are equally as dark and enigmatic as the surrounding countryside and the legends which thrive there. In fact, most of the characters in this book aren't what they seem at first glance. Beware, there are skeletons in every closet, and Rickman examines those old bones in detail.Chief among those intrigued by the legend of The Hound is the hotel's owner, Ben Foley. Ben is a washed-up television producer who buys the Stanner Hall Hotel in order to start a new life with his wife Amber who incidentally serves as the hotel's cook. Thought to be drifters who were just passing through, Natalie Craven and her daughter, Clancy, find positions at the hotel as well while taking up residence with the quiet brooding farmer, Jeremy Berrows who lives at a nearby farm called The Nant. Rounding out the staff at the hotel is Jane Watkins, daughter of Merrily Watkins who happens to be the Deliverance Consultant for the Diocese of Hereford. For those familiar with the previous Merrily Watkins novels, Jane plays a larger role in this novel than she has in previous Merrily novels. For those of us who have come to love her acerbic wit and dry sarcasm, this is a welcome development. Rickman skillfully uses Jane and her curiosity in the pagan lifestyle as a counterpoint to Merrily's stance as an Anglican priest. What results is an interesting twist of irony between mother and daughter that runs throughout the novel as Jane becomes involved with The White Company, a group of spiritualists whose beliefs are in direct contradiction to everything that Merrily stands for as an Anglican priest. Lol Robinson, Gomer Parry, and Frannie Bliss invariably show up in the narrative as well, lending familiarity and dark humor to an unfamiliar and bleak set of circumstances. As is the case with most of Rickman’s novels, there are usually several storylines going on simultaneously, and this book is no exception. Foremost, a group of spiritualists called The White Company attempts to summon Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s spirit at the hotel where Jane is working while a documentary maker named Antony Largo plans to capture it all on tape. Meanwhile, Merrily finds herself in a bit of a dilemma when her parishioners start to view her as a sort of miracle worker, bombarding her with requests for divine healing. This becomes tricky and even dangerous when she is asked to heal the nephew of one of her parishioners only to find out that there is much more to him than meets the eye. Then there is the dilemma of Jeremy Berrows, a local farmer who is constantly being intimidated and indirectly threatened by Sebbie Dacre, a regional landowner who has hired a group of hunters to track down and kill a large black dog that has been sighted on Jeremy’s land. Also “living” at the hotel is the supposed ghost of Hattie Chancery, previous owner of Stanner Hall who committed suicide in one of its rooms after bashing her husband’s head in.tttWithout recounting too much of the story and spoiling what turns out to be several well-kept secrets involving character lineage and motive, let it suffice to say there are enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing. Rickman deftly weaves several subplots into a cohesive story without losing the atmosphere that has become one of his trademarks. The Prayer of the Night Shepherd has murder, legends involving an ancestral evil that is passed down from generation to generation, attempted suicide, a famous convicted killer who has changed identities and walks about the hotel unrecognized, and sightings of an ominous black dog that foreshadows death.The Prayer of the Night Shepherd is every bit as good as the other books in the Merrily Watkins series. It is also an ideal place to start for the uninitiated as it doesn't draw too heavily on the history of the characters or any of the events that took place in previous books. If you're a Merrily Watkins fan, a fan of the Sherlock Holmes series, an avid reader of mysteries, or just love a well-crafted tale full of paranormal suspense, this is the book for you. Highly recommended.
Jane Watkins is growing up and has got herself a part time job at a hotel on the border between England and Wales. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may or may not have had a connection with the place and the surrounding area might have given him his inspiration for the ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ even though he set the story on Dartmoor. Ben Foley and his wife are trying to make a go of the hotel and are making the most of the Conan Doyle connection. But there are other supernatural influences at work including the more recent Hattie Chancery who murdered her husband and then committed suicide.I remember reading this book when it was first published and decided it was probably my least favourite of this excellent series. This is my third reading of it and I can say now that I really enjoyed it. It is a book which grows on you and it features all the series characters – Merrily herself of course, Lol Robinson, Gomer Parry and Danny Thomas. I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder as I was reading the book – especially when I got towards the end.If you want something in the supernatural line but which involves modern crime and mystery as well then you could do worse than to try this book. If you’ve always enjoyed Conan Doyle’s writing then there is an opportunity to learn a bit more about his consuming interest in the supernatural which occupied the last decades of his life.
What do You think about The Prayer Of The Night Shepherd (2004)?
After taking a small break from this series, when I picked up this sixth weighty volume, I almost prolonged the break. I have a hard cover copy, and it really isn’t conducive to lugging it around, but once I started reading it, I immediately was sucked back into Merrily’s life. This may not be a flashy series, with non-stop action, but the characters are so realistic and the plots are so meticulously revealed that it’s hard not to be engulfed in the series. Even after a break, it’s like catching up with an old friend - one that you hadn’t realized just how much you had missed until you were chatting away like it had been only yesterday that you had last seen one another. There is just something so lifelike about the series - even with its supernatural elements.This time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle plays a role - and those fans of The Hound of the Baskervilles will particularly enjoy this installment. It was a very interesting addition!
—Victoria
Quite wonderfully plotted in some ways because the actual murder which needs to be solved takes place in a mansion where a historic murder took place, which now acts as a stage for murder mystery weekends; while the subplot also involves multiple layers of old vs new murders. I most enjoyed getting an inside view to farmer's lives. And, I got a good laugh out of what the author thought of as a massive snow storm (i.e. Normal snow in many parts of the US, but of course Brits aren't used to it.) It seemed to me this book itself is mostly about love. Love in all forms. Not just couples, although there are couples. Although it got a bit draggy in the middle (I am easily bored of Arthur Conan Doyle, family histories and ghosts), it ended beautifully and I was glad I had read it.
—Sunny
This book was a little slow and hard to get into at first. This was the first Phil Rickman book I've read, so perhaps it is easier to follow the characters if you've read previous books. Once the plot got underway it picked up. It's a good mystery and crime novel. I was a little lost when they kept trying to link the Sherlock Holmes story with this one because I'm not a Sherlock Holmes fan - therefore I knew NOTHING about the Hound of Baskerville. As the pace of the book quickened, I began to like the characters and wanted to know more about them. The Welsh dialect was a bit difficult to understand sometimes and became a little tedious. I wasn't thrilled with the way the storyline jumped from one scene to the next without warning - that got a little difficult to follow sometimes. Overall, it was a good book - I will read more Phil Rickman books to see if they link in some way.
—Colleen Reynolds
