A review by andrew61
The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman

3.0

This was a new author for me although I have subsequently seen that one of the books has been adapted for ITV which I may explore. The book is part crime part supernatural thriller set in a apparently idyllic Herefordshire village with pretty church and blossoming apple orchard. merrily Watkins is the newly appointed vicar for the parish and she arrives with her teenage daughter, plenty of emotional baggage and resistance from some parishioners to a female vicar. We soon learn of potential ghostly presences in the vicarage and sinister historic events in the orchard as a local playwright seeks to perform a re-enactment of one of those events from the time of witch trials. The book had a lot of goose bump moments and the plot had me hooked. some characters were a little clichéd and at times felt a bit "Midsummer murder" ish however I enjoyed the read and liked many of the characters. However at over 600 pages long it perhaps could have lost some of the length without losing the tension. I will definitely try more.