The Fever of the World: ‘Brilliantly eerie’ Peter James

The fifteenth instalment in the Merrily Watkins series.

‘Merrily Watkins is the most singular of crime fiction protagonists… As ever [Rickman]’s supremely skillful at teasing out the menace that lies behind English folk customs and legends and weaving them into a compelling contemporary narrative.’ - Mail on Sunday

The River Wye, according to local folklore, takes a life every year. But in the lower Wye Valley something truly evil is stirring and the locals can sense it.

TV star Arlo Ripley seeks solace in a church at the water’s edge. But a famous face always attracts attention and if he thinks he can hide his failings, he couldn’t be more wrong. Up river, an ambitious writer thinks she’s uncovering Wordsworth’s stranger secrets while an urban career-criminal, newly out of prison, assures a sceptical DI Frannie Bliss that he’s left his old life behind to find an unlikely pastoral peace.

Enter diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins. As she wades into the murky depths, Merrily discovers that the darkest and most disturbing evil doesn’t always involve murder…