The first in the historically rich, atmospheric mystery series featuring female exorcist Reverend Merrily WatkinsThe new vicar had never wanted a picture-postcard parish--or a huge and haunted vicarage. Nor had she wanted to walk into a dispute over a controversial play about a 17th-century clergyman accused of witchcraft, a story that certain long-established families would rather remained obscure. But this is Ledwardine, steeped in cider and secrets. A paradise of cobbled streets and timber-framed houses. And also--as Merrily Watkins and her teenage daughter, Jane, discover--a village where horrific murder is a tradition that spans centuries.