Tangled Web raved that Phil Rickman is "the best English writer in the crime genre today" and the Daily Mail praised him by saying he is "a national treasure." His Merrily Watkins mysteries are set in the world-famous Welsh Border booktown, Hay-on-Wye, and involve ritual murder, magical visions, and arcane mysteries behind the Kingdom of Hay. Rickman lives on the Welsh border where he writes and presents the book program Phil the Shelf on BBC Radio Wales. He is the author of 12 Merrily Watkins' Mysteries, introducing the Reverend in The Wine of Angels, and charting her career as the diocesan exorcist with Midwinter of the Spirit, A Crown of Lights, The Cure of Souls, The Lamp of the Wicked, The Prayer of the Night Shepherd, The Smile of a Ghost and The Remains of an Altar.