Saturday, July 9, 2011

Phil Rickman

Phil Rickman has worked as a BBC radio and TV reporter, and he currently writes and presents the book program "Phil the Shelf" on BBC Radio Wales. He is also the author of the internationally bestselling crime series featuring Merrily Watkins.

His latest novel is The Bones of Avalon, which Michael Gregorio called “[a]n immaculate Elizabethan mystery, beautifully written, cunningly contrived. John Dee himself could not have conjured up anything finer.”

A few weeks ago I asked Rickman what he was reading. His reply:
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson. He's the guy who wrote the book on which they based that movie about men staring at goats. (The book was better, as they usually are.) The Psychopath Test is very funny and came out of an encounter between Ronson and Bob Hare, the psychologist who devised a list of things to look out for to identify psychos. I'm reading it because Jon Ronson is a guest on my BBC Radio Wales book show, Phil the Shelf, on Sunday, June 19. But this is a book I'd want to read anyway. Ronson, who also makes TV documentaries, has a unique style - a bit like Louis Theroux but probably a better writer.
Visit Phil Rickman's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Bones of Avalon.

The Page 69 Test: The Bones of Avalon.

--Marshal Zeringue