Merrily Watkins Books in Order

During the COVID era, the suspicious death of an estate agent on the River Wye draws detective David Vaynor and Merrily into Wordsworth country, where lingering druidic lore, riverside ghosts and an old grudge surface beneath the pressures of a modern pandemic.

After Aidan Lloyd’s fog-shrouded funeral, a nocturnal ritual suggests the dead farmer will not rest. As ice and snow grip the border country, Merrily and Jane confront rural feuds, sinister folk customs and organised crime converging on a symbol-laden medieval church.

Storms uproot a tree in Hereford, exposing centuries-old bones that promptly vanish, while a new bishop wants to sideline exorcism. In the border hills, Merrily investigates a supposedly haunted twelfth-century house and uncovers a cult obsessed with dodging death itself.

Zoe and Jonathan’s stark modern house in Hereford was cheap because a previous owner died there. When Zoe insists Susan Lulham’s furious presence still stalks the white walls, Merrily must decide whether she’s dealing with grief, deceit or a ghost that will not move on.

A body found beneath a waterfall near Hay-on-Wye looks like suicide until disturbing evidence at the dead man’s home sends DI Frannie Bliss to Merrily. Among booksellers, eccentrics and old independence stunts, she uncovers a hidden history of ritual magic and murder.

Ex–SAS soldier turned chaplain Syd Spicer is cracking under the strain of a case he cannot share with Merrily. When a wealthy landowner is hacked to death on his farm, border communities, military secrets and echoes of pagan warrior cults collide around her.

Winter floods cut Ledwardine off as an aggressively atheist writer is hidden nearby for his own safety and archaeologists unearth standing stones in a contested meadow. With tempers and water levels rising, Merrily confronts fanaticism, fear and a killer inside the cordon.

Builders refuse to work on a medieval Master House newly acquired by the royal estate, claiming the place does not want to be restored. Merrily traces its ties to a Templar church, a bitter family feud and a haunting that brushes uncomfortably close to power.

Strange car accidents near the Malvern Hills are blamed on a haunted stretch of road linked to composer Edward Elgar. Called in to investigate, Merrily follows clues through music, local rivalries and her daughter Jane’s obsession with an ancient hilltop site.

After a teenager falls from Ludlow Castle’s walls, his grandmother insists she still sees him walking with a medieval lady. Merrily must pick through bullying, ghost tours and a reclusive rock star’s patronage to learn whether the dead boy jumped, fell or was pushed.

A crumbling country house hotel trades on a local legend that may lie behind The Hound of the Baskervilles. While Merrily sees disturbing echoes of a child-killer, her daughter Jane’s new job there draws them both into snowbound danger and a very modern haunting.

Underhowle looks ready for a new lease of life, until rumours of a serial killer turn the village into a true-crime sideshow. DI Frannie Bliss thinks he knows where the bodies are buried; Merrily suspects ambition, myth and old evil are blurring together.

A converted hopkiln in Herefordshire was once the scene of a savage murder. When its new owners complain of a haunting and a local mother insists her daughter is possessed, Merrily is sent in, uncovering trickery, corruption and a village history warped by violence.

When a pagan couple buys a deconsecrated borderland church, an outraged evangelical minister whips up fears of a modern witch cult. Merrily must calm a community on the brink of a witch-hunt while untangling older legends and a grief that has turned dangerous.

Reluctantly appointed diocesan exorcist, Merrily begins her deliverance training just as a body turns up in the River Wye, a church is desecrated and sinister signs appear in Hereford Cathedral, pulling her into a case that tests faith, family and nerve.

Newly arrived vicar Merrily Watkins and her teenage daughter Jane move to the picture-postcard village of Ledwardine, only to find a haunted vicarage, a controversial play about a witchcraft trial and orchard rituals that stir up a tradition of murder.