- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur; 1 edition (Jan 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312284853
- ISBN-13: 978-0312284855
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 15 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 571,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Mystery fans, please remove your hats and bow your heads for the passing of a great detective - Flap Tucker, Zen detective, seems to be no more. After four charming, funny and intriguing mysteries(and one alarmingly ill-tempered and pissy one), starring the mysterious and easy-going finder of lost things and set in Atlanta, Georgia author Phillip Depoy seems to have laid Flap to rest.
But enough of the boohooing, boys and girls, because Depoy has rewarded those of us who stuck around after the lights went down with a new hero, one who is much like Flap, but somehow more mature and insightful, while maintaining the former detective's flummoxed charm.
Fever Devilin hails from another part of Georgia, the beautiful and spooky Appalachian Mountains. Fever has been living in self-imposed exile in Atlanta, which is physically only a few hours' drive from the mountains, but is on another planet ideologically. In this first adventure we find him returning home to find a corpse on his front porch, one that turns out to be his half-brother. Fever decides to investigate, but has been gone from his tight-knit and close-mouthed community that he is now considered an outsider and can barely get an answer from his friends and neighbors.
Depoy's characters, as always, are delightfully complex. They are true to themselves and their motivations, even as they are sometimes frustratingly obtuse. The relationship between Fever and his best friend, Skidmore, is a realistic portrayal of two friends, long separated, picking up where they left off, with warmth, trepidation and eventual trust. Fever himself is a worthy successor to Flap.
Depoy writes the Appalachians like he lives them, bringing life to the dark, smoky woods and guiding us through with a tracker's eye. I look forward to the next Fever Devilin mystery.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
19 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Multi-layered brilliance
4 Oct 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
DePoy has become my favorite author with his two books in this series. I know a bit about folklore and the people of the mountains and they are portrayed accurately and with great compassion here. The mystery is a real one, the characters alive and complete, and the insight into a hidden world -- the world of shape note music, Melungeons, hidden travelers, and front porch conversations -- make this book a warm, inviting place to be. I can't wait for the next one.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Chirping crickets and a body on the porch
23 Sep 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Rich characters and setting are enriched by, well... rich writing and imagery, which only occasionally becomes a bit too flowery and overly descriptive. I enjoyed being dropped into an area of this country not done to death in other stories; the Georgia Appalachian region is a very interesting place. The mystery story itself is pretty good; like a lot of good mysteries, the story effectively ties the mystery story into the history and dark secrets of the story's setting. The diverse characters and the colorful banter between them are also very enjoyable.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
superb regional amateur sleuth
18 Jan 2003
Format:Hardcover
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
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