Merrily Watkins: late thirties, single mum, parish priest. Cosy? I don't think so... 'FIRST CLASS' - 'TERRIFIC' - 'WONDERFUL' - 'FIRST RATE' GUARDIAN - THE TIMES - DAILY EXPRESS - DAILY MAIL

Hereford's Diocesan Exorcist must encounter a legacy of evil within the crumbling walls of an old hotel along with memories of murder...

'Merrily has become an ever more engaging protagonist, a passionate, flawed modern women every bit as concerned with the intricacies of crime as she is with demons that go bump in the night.' - Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail

'There were certain phrases you could feel, like fingers up your spine. "Hattie Chancery's Room." Oh God . . .'

A crumbling hotel on the border of England and Wales has long been linked with the possible origins of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles and his obsession with contacting the dead. Fascinating for young Jane Watkins, flushed with the freedom of her first weekend job. But the sinister side soon becomes apparent to her mother, Merrily, diocesan exorcist for Hereford. Then come memories of a child who killed. And blood in the fresh snow.

"Merrily has become an ever more engaging protagonist, a passionate, flawed modern women every bit as concerned with the intricacies of crime as she is with demons that go bump in the night." - Daily Mail

". . . the dark no man's land where murder mingles with superstition, genetics and the twisted conditioning of unhappy families. Complex, absorbing, fascinating . . ." - Andrew Taylor

"I absolutely loved this. For me it is the first modern book that I've found as satisfying as a Victorian novel. The layers, the characters, the humour, the spookiness - perfect." - Elly Griffiths