I ripped through this, enjoying every minute. It's years since I visited Hay-on-Wye, but it was a delight to be there again in imagination, courtesy of Mr Rickman. As far as regular characters are concerned, I missed Jane; Gomer and Lol made only fleeting appearances. However, D.I. Frannie Bliss plays a major part in the story, together with the repercussions of his 'accident' in the last in the series, 'The Secrets of Pain'. Athena White, ex-Secret Service agent, and practitioner of the Old Magic, is confined to her Old People's Residential Home, but is still able to rattle Merrily's cage and contribute scorching dialogue and cryptic comments to the proceedings. I found this the darkest Merrily Watkins I can remember reading recently; the unfurling of the plot is unsettling and a sense of impending tragedy hangs over the last part of the book. However, fans will not be disappointed and my only regret is that I read this too fast!