What do You think about A Minister's Ghost (2005)?
I really enjoyed this hard-to-put-down mystery, and I'm glad to have found this new-to-me, relatively unknown author. The cast of characters is filled with fascinating, eccentric people, especially the narrator and protagonist, Fever Devilin, a professor and folklorist who has returned to his hometown in the Appalachians.In this story, he is investigating a suspicious accident at a railroad crossing in which two teenage sisters have been killed. The vivid Southern small-town setting, excellent dialogue, fine writing, eerie supernatural elements, and fascinating regional folklore all make for a riveting page-turner of a mystery. I'm definitely going to seek out more books in this series.
—Sheila Beaumont
Fever Devilin is a folklorist who fled the fevered halls of academia to return home to the Blue Mountain region of the Georgia Appalachians and a hopefully quiet life. While on a trip collecting folklore, Fever spots an apparition at a railroad crossing. Such apparitions are traditionally omens of evil, and when he returns home he finds his suspicions are accurate: his friend Lucinda's two nieces have been killed in a suspicious accident. As he consoles Lucinda, Fever promises to investigate the
—Marcy Skala
I am of two minds about this novel. Some aspects were wonderful; others sucked.What I liked was the setting in Georgia's Appalachia: the odd names, the snake-handlers, the inbred community, the atmospheric weather, the spooky woods. I liked the idea of a folklorist-protagonist. The main character, an academic named Fever (where do they come up with these monikers?) who has eschewed his professorship and gone back to his late parents' cabin in the pines. The locals call him "Doctor." He goes arou
—Trilby
