On healing and deliverance, many thanks this time to Peter Brooks (who provided much technical assistance and a timely copy of Is Spiritualism of the Devil? (1919) by Rev. F. Fielding Ould) and John Woolmer, whose penetrating book, Healing and Deliverance, I discovered thanks to its publisher Tony Collins of Monarch Books. Healing the Family Tree by Dr Kenneth McAll is published by Sheldon Press.
Recommended biographies of Sir Arthur are: Teller of Tales by Daniel Stashower (Penguin) – very strong on the spiritualist years – and The Doctor, The Detective and Arthur Conan Doyle by Martin Booth (Hodder and Stoughton).
Thanks, for technical assistance, to Tim Green and Julian Carey, of BBC Wales, John Mason, Pam Baker and Jane Froud of the Original Cloak and Dagger Company, deviser of murder-mystery weekends. To Prof. Bernard Knight for hangings. To editors (in order of appearance) John Jarrold, Peter Lavery and Nick Austin, for crucial tweaks. To Stefanie Bierwerth for smoothing paths.
Finally, the contribution over six solid weeks during the final rewrite by my wife, Carol – editor, director, inspired plot-doctor – was unparalleled and rescued this book from that familiar abyss. No one else could have done this with such perception and precision.
The background to this novel, with pictures of Stanner Rocks, Hergest, Kington Church, etc. can be found in Merrily’s Border (Logaston Press). The songs of Lol Robinson are available on two CDs, Songs from Lucy’s Cottage and A Message from the Morning, available through the website, www.philrickman.co.uk.
P.S. A short while ago, when the Hergest Pool was drained for cleaning, a large stone was found in the centre. Historian Alan Lloyd, who was quite interested to find out if there was anything underneath it, said no local farmer could be persuaded to use his tractor to find out.
PHIL RICKMAN was born in Lancashire and lives on the Welsh border. He is the author of the Merrily Watkins series, and The Bones of Avalon. He has won awards for his TV and radio journalism and writes and presents the book programme Phil the Shelf for BBC Radio Wales.
THE MERRILY WATKINS SERIES
The Wine of Angels
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
The Remains of an Altar
The Fabric of Sin
To Dream of the Dead
The Secrets of Pain
THE JOHN DEE PAPERS
The Bones of Avalon
OTHER TITLES
Candlenight
Curfew
The Man in the Moss
December
The Chalice