Signing or Singing?

We've all enjoyed the company of Lol Robinson and Hazey Jane II for the past three weeks and the songs have really grown on us.

Lol is a character in the unusual crime novels of Phil Rickman's.  How he gets to make a CD is beyond me. David and I are certainly going to buy the disc from Phil when he comes up for the signing this weekend. It's called A Message from the Morning and is well worth a listen (or three). Lol has also recorded Songs from Lucy's Cottage and I hope Phil will bring some of those too.

We've finally decided our special prices for the signing day. We have both Rebecca Tope and Phil Rickman coming on Saturday and anyone buying a paperback by each author will be able to have a third paperback half price.
Phil's photo book of the sites mentioned in the series, Merrily's Border, will be reduced by £2.00 and the latest hardbacks by each author (Secrets of Pain* by Phil and Grave in the Cotswolds and Deception in the Cotswolds by Rebecca) will be £5.00 off for the day.

(*There's a nice spooky video from Phil himself on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60NcX_Gmpsw )

Signing is from 11 am on Saturday 17 September but Phil has let us know he will not be able to arrive till around midday. (If the road works still continue, even later perhaps)

The Lol Robinson Mystery

The big book-signing on the rather close horizon (10 Sept) is that of Panama Oxridge who will be here to launch the exciting Justin Thyme sequel, Thyme Running Out. The paperback of Justin Thyme will also be available. However, you know all that. You also know that there is a great deal of mystery about both books and about the author.

Strange then that, just one week later we have an author here who also has a great deal of mystery about him - Phil Rickman. Not only are his books mysteries in themselves but also, they are in a genre of his own creation. Murder mysteries that edge towards the dark arts but never quite get there, or do they?


However, there is an even bigger mystery that comes with his books. They contain a character called Lol Robinson, a musician. Now characters in books are just that aren't they? So how come I've just been listening to a Lol Robinson CD? Rather good it is too. I'm no judge but I'd say there was a Simon and Garfunkel touch in the sound (with a chunk of Bo Diddley in there too!) though Nick Drake is the big influence according to the books.


When Phil Rickman is here for his signing of his not-yet-published The Secrets of Pain on 17th Sept, he will also have Lol Robinson CDs for sale. So who the heck is Lol Robinson? Can anybody out there tell me?

Merrily's Border

After our 'children's' signing (Panama Oxridge on 10September) we have another biggie - that is Rebecca Tope and her Cotswold murder mysteries and, on the same day, Saturday 17th September, Phil Rickman with his Merrily Watkins series including the new hardback The Secrets of Pain.

Just arrived, Merrily's Border, a photo guide to some of the locations in which Phil sets his stories, words by Phil himself and photos by John Mason. This is a must for Rickman fans, especially if you want to track Merrily down in her natural habitat.

In the same way that fact and fiction blur in the Merrily Watkins series, the landscape pictured is little removed from the myth of the Marches and much of the book tells strange tales of pagan places.

I'm looking forward to meeting Phil but now I also want to follow the Merrily trail in those border lands that this excellent author so obviously loves.

So, not only will we have Phil's fiction in stock and CD's staring Lol Robinson and Hazey Jane ll but now we'll have this evocative guide-book too. Maybe at a special price! (To be announced)