Merrily Watkins is the most singular of crime fiction protagonists... As ever [Rickman]'s supremely skillful at teasing out the menace that lies behind English folk customs and legends and weaving them into a compelling contemporary narrative. - Mail on Sunday IN THE DARK HEART OF THE COUNTRYSIDE... When Aidan Lloyd's bleak funeral is followed by a nocturnal ritual in the fog, it becomes all too clear that Aidan, son of a wealthy farmer, will not be resting in peace. Aidan's hidden history has reignited an old feud, and a rural tradition begins to display its sinister side. It's already a fraught time for Merrily Watkins, her future threatened by a bishop committed to restricting her role as diocesan exorcist for Hereford. Suddenly there are events she can't talk about as she and her daughter Jane find themselves potentially on the wrong side of the law. In the city of Hereford, DI Frannie Bliss, investigating a shooting, must confront the apparent growth of organised crime, also contaminating the countryside. On the Welsh border, the old ways are at war with the modern world. As the days shorten and the fog gives way to ice and snow, a savage killing draws Merrily Watkins into a conflict centred on one of Britain's most famous medieval churches, its walls laden with ancient symbolism. Midwinter of the Spirit, televised last year to worldwide critical acclaim, was the first novel to reflect the reality of exorcism in modern Britain. All of a Winter's Night is the 15th episode in this electrifying series.

A cold night's silent majesty hides a BITTER secret… Though she is deeply loved by her parents, the fact that Lydia Brand is adopted has always made her different from her close-knit Amish community. But as Christmas approaches and she begins to search for answers about her biological parents, more questions surface. Soon it seems that the deaths of two women in her small town may not be coincidences, after all. And her pursuit of the truth has left her only with hints of a dark secret—and threats from an unseen adversary. While she does her best to stave off advances from her parents' preferred suitor, Lydia discovers that her heart truly belongs to the man who's been there all along: her friend Josh Yoder. It's only with his help that Lydia can ensure that the stillness of a winter's night means peace…and not danger.

Grieving over the loss of his love, werewolf Bowen MacRieve enjoys a passionate encounter with his enemy, the witch Mariketa the Awaited, but when sinister forces threaten her life, Bowen must use all his skills to keep her alive.

One winter's night, Badger arrives in the forest, cold and hungry. Fox, Mouse, and Hare each help as best they can, and Badger goes on his way. But the storm is getting worse, and the animals start to worry ....

Set during the first half of the twentieth century, this is the story of the Brunis, a family of farmers from the Italian Padan Plain who have worked the land since time immemorial. And it is a story about the homeless multitudes, travelers, and tinkers, roaming Europe during the hardscrabble nineteen-twenties and thirties. In this expansive novel, these two worlds meet when the Brunis open their great barn and offer it as a refuge for those in need of a warm, dry, and safe place to sleep and eat. The barn becomes font and inspiration for a series of vivid stories involving sundry strangers, the Bruni parents themselves, and their nine children—seven boys and two girls—who will grow into young men and women during World War I and its aftermath. Told in the tradition of country folktales and framed by the devastating years of strife—two world wars and the years of fascism—these stories will delight readers from the first page to the last. Manfredi's A Winter's Night provides a timely reminder that simple values and a sense of solidarity with our fellow human beings remain of vital importance, above all in a world undergoing momentous and rapid change.

In a retelling of the classic French fairy tale "East of the Sun, West of the Moon," Camille, the daughter of a poor crofter, is forced to wed a mysterious prince in exchange for wealth for her family.

Martha is only a cow, but even a cow needs a safe, warm place on such a cold, snowy night-especially when she is about to give birth. She finds a house, but it is deserted. She finds a barn, but it is locked. Meanwhile, in a parallel story depicted only through art spots, a man and a woman and a donkey make their way across these same wintry fields. At last, Martha follows a star in the east to a shed . . . but she is not alone there. The man and woman are sheltering there too, and in a wonderfully mysterious way, another baby is about to be born this winter's night. Leo and Diane Dillon's art blends warmly with John Herman's lyrical text as parallel journeys of two very special mothers merge in this soft, gentle tale about one miraculous night.