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Devil Preacher
There is no honor among thieves.
We've all heard the phrase. But this is not always so...
Stephen Hue was a bandit in the wild days of the 1830s American West, preying along Mississippi's Natchez Trace.
Now he is an old man, but he holds a grisly relic of those violent times, something a rival of the legendary showman P.T. Barnum is also after. This rival's agent has tracked it down, desperate to acquire it. Before Stephen hands it over, however, he insists on telling the true tale of the original owner of the relic, his friend John Murrell, The Great Western Land Pirate, and his Mystic Clan.
From their first meeting as kids at Buzzard's Roost, a wayward boy's home on The Trace, Stephen tells of his adventures with John, including mixing in with the likes of Madame Ma Surgick and her collection of scoundrels, falling in love with one of her girls, their hair-raising escape from a murderous brute.
Years later they reunite on the Mississippi River at Natchez Under-The-Hill, John now the head of a growing crime syndicate. The son of a road preacher, John has honed his ability to captivate people with sermons while his gang steals their horses - and whatever else they can get their hands on. With Stephen's experience navigating the river with his keelboat, they begin building Clan Mystic, an underworld empire that extends up and down The Trace. Defying all odds, including relentless pursuit by vicious self-appointed river lawmen, John envisions going beyond even that...
We've all heard the phrase. But this is not always so...
Stephen Hue was a bandit in the wild days of the 1830s American West, preying along Mississippi's Natchez Trace.
Now he is an old man, but he holds a grisly relic of those violent times, something a rival of the legendary showman P.T. Barnum is also after. This rival's agent has tracked it down, desperate to acquire it. Before Stephen hands it over, however, he insists on telling the true tale of the original owner of the relic, his friend John Murrell, The Great Western Land Pirate, and his Mystic Clan.
From their first meeting as kids at Buzzard's Roost, a wayward boy's home on The Trace, Stephen tells of his adventures with John, including mixing in with the likes of Madame Ma Surgick and her collection of scoundrels, falling in love with one of her girls, their hair-raising escape from a murderous brute.
Years later they reunite on the Mississippi River at Natchez Under-The-Hill, John now the head of a growing crime syndicate. The son of a road preacher, John has honed his ability to captivate people with sermons while his gang steals their horses - and whatever else they can get their hands on. With Stephen's experience navigating the river with his keelboat, they begin building Clan Mystic, an underworld empire that extends up and down The Trace. Defying all odds, including relentless pursuit by vicious self-appointed river lawmen, John envisions going beyond even that...
442 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 9, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 2, 2025
I grew up loving Mark Twain’s adventure novels. DEVIL PREACHER by Christopher Dewitt reminds me so much of those beloved books.
Like Twain, Dewitt sets his story in the early 1800s. And like Twain’s famous characters, Stephen Hue is no angel. He gets into loads of trouble as a kid, and is sent to live at a reform school. There, he meets John Murrell, a charismatic and ambitious young hellion. Together, they get into some wild situations! These first few chapters are fun and page-turning.
The second half of the book jumps forward in time a few years. Stephen is a young man now, and reconnects with John, who now is known as the “Devil Preacher.” The two pursue a life on the other side of the law, and the stakes get a lot higher. Stephen often asks, “Is this really worth it?” But John is going down a one-way path—will he take Stephen with him?
Dewitt captures the old-timey prose style of Twain’s era as well. It’s not hard to follow at all, but you definitely get the feeling you are reading something from a different time. In this case, that is as it should be! DEVIL PREACHER is an adventure-packed, page-turning book - and one I’d highly recommend.
Like Twain, Dewitt sets his story in the early 1800s. And like Twain’s famous characters, Stephen Hue is no angel. He gets into loads of trouble as a kid, and is sent to live at a reform school. There, he meets John Murrell, a charismatic and ambitious young hellion. Together, they get into some wild situations! These first few chapters are fun and page-turning.
The second half of the book jumps forward in time a few years. Stephen is a young man now, and reconnects with John, who now is known as the “Devil Preacher.” The two pursue a life on the other side of the law, and the stakes get a lot higher. Stephen often asks, “Is this really worth it?” But John is going down a one-way path—will he take Stephen with him?
Dewitt captures the old-timey prose style of Twain’s era as well. It’s not hard to follow at all, but you definitely get the feeling you are reading something from a different time. In this case, that is as it should be! DEVIL PREACHER is an adventure-packed, page-turning book - and one I’d highly recommend.
January 10, 2026
Christopher DeWitt’s debut novel, Devil Preacher, is a western adventure that blends real life persons and events with fictional characters to spin an entertaining yarn. The story is told mostly in flashbacks during the first half of the nineteenth century, especially in the 1830s. Our narrator is Stephen Hue, now age 70, as he relates his adventures with John Murrell, the “Devil Preacher.” Murrell was pretty well-known in the first half of 1800s, but he is now a forgotten footnote in history (of course, we’ll always have online search engines). Devil Preacher follows Morrell, Hue, and their gang’s exploits, especially along the Mississippi river. Morrell becomes a self-styled “Great Western Land Pirate” in the 1830’s. Think the further adventures of the “Hole in the Wall” gang if Butch and Sundance had kept the band together. There’s a touch of the macabre, especially in the latter part of the story when effort is spent on acquiring and keeping a severed head for display (just go with it, but some of this is true). But does it work? Yes! Above all, “Devil Preacher” is a rip-roaring old school western. Dewitt’s writes with dialogue and details that both sound and “feel” authentic. Many historians think Morrell was involved in the slave trade. DeWitt does not back down from this, but his protagonists are more like Butch and Sundance, rogues who are plotting a slave uprising to free people. DeWitt is not trying to give a history lesson, he is telling an exciting western tale that is not set in the traditional Wild West usually seen in the movies. A great read and recommended for readers who like westerns and tales that blend recorded history with fiction. Great read!
I was given a complimentary copy to review.
I was given a complimentary copy to review.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews