Book Review: The Devil's Hearth

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Devil's Hearth     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Phillip DePoy
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Fever Devilin
St. Martin's, Jan 2003, $23.95, 272 pp.

When Burrison University English Department shut down his folklore section, Dr. "Fever" Devilin knew it was time to go home to the Georgia Appalachian Mountains. Fever figures that the time is right to write about his home lore yet also put to rest the past that he fled when he first went off to college.

He moves back into his family’s cabin on Blue Mountain where Fever plans to reacclimatize from the academia think tank world to the more mellow isolated environs. His best friend from childhood, now Deputy Sheriff Skidmore Needle, arrives at the cabin to greet his old buddy, but finds a corpse just outside the edifice prior to the professor’s arrival. They quickly learn that the deceased is Fever's half-brother, a blood relative he never knew he had. Fever wonders if perhaps he was the intended victim and if so why. Unable to heed Skidmore’s advice, Fever begins making inquiries into who would want either he or his sibling dead.

THE DEVIL’S HEARTH is a discerningly written regional amateur sleuth that employs some police procedural elements to enhance the feeling of realism. Fever is a delightful lead protagonist who keeps the story line focused. The secondary cast including his buddy, a university colleague, and locals embellishes a powerful plot that delivers a wonderful look at Appalachia folklore interwoven within well designed who-done-it.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner