The Wine of Angels (A Merrily Watkins Mystery)

"This novel is by a great friend, Phil Rickman, who’s had some experience of magic himself. He writes about the way the Church deals with magic. There are several books in his Merrily Watkins series; this is the first. Watkins, a new woman priest, is the exorcist of the diocese. The Church doesn’t really believe in her methods. She’s a sort of embarrassment from the past, someone who actually believes in exorcism and sprinkling holy water. On the one hand, she deals with a Church that doesn’t believe in her. On the other, she confronts a side of magic that will scare you witless. Demons, spirits and entities play their part. People are scared of the impact of these things on them. Some do. There’s a wonderful story in the Bentine book, my first choice, about a pub owner in Sussex who discovers he can predict the winners at the races. He starts to question why this is happening and goes through the usual drama with planchets and glasses. A message appears: ‘I am an old friend.’ Events start to take him over, an exorcism is performed and things reach a terrible denouement . It’s an extraordinary encounter with the other world. After that, he can no longer predict the winners. He ends up in a padded cell. I’ve been in situations where I got scared too."