The Devil's Hearth

Fever Devilin #1

by Phillip DePoy

Fever Devilin is a folklorist and a very recent ex-academic who has decided to return to his family home in the Georgia Appalachians. But his homecoming isn't quite what he expected---he arrives at the home he once shared with his now-deceased parents to find a corpse on his front porch, evidence that someone has been living in the house without his knowledge, and someone in the woods around the house taking shots at him with a rifle. Simply put, it could be better.

Instead it gets worse---especially when Fever finds out that the corpse is that of a half-brother whom he never knew existed. This discovery leads him to think that the actual intended target of the murderer might well have been Fever himself. As he probes the mystery in this tight-knit and often closed-mouthed community, home to many of his best and worst memories, it quickly becomes obvious that some of the town's secrets are deadlier than others. As are the answers to his questions---about the murder and about Fever's own past.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Southern, Thriller, Fantasy

244 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Phillip DePoy has published short fiction, poetry, and criticism in Story, The Southern Poetry Review, Xanadu, Yankee, and other magazines. He is currently the creative director of the Maurice Townsend Center for the Performing Arts at the State University of West Georgia, and has had many productions of his plays at regional theaters throughout the south. He is the recipient of numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the state of Georgia, the Georgia Council for the Arts, the Arts Festival of Atlanta, the South Carolina Council for the Arts, etc. He composed the scores for the regional Angels in America and other productions and has played in a numerous jazz and folk bands. In his work as a folklorist he has collected songs and stories throughout Georgia and has worked with John Burrison, the foremost folklorist in the south and with Joseph Cambell.

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3* of five

The Publisher Says: Fever Devlin leaves his university job to return to his home in the Georgia Appalachians, prepared to confront the ghosts of his past. But his arrival is greeted with the discovery of a body on the porch of the family cabin -- a corpse that turns out to be a half brother Fever never knew existed.
The truth about the murder and the secrets surrounding Fever's life remain hidden in the determined silence of the locals. He must sort through his quirky family history -- where an adulterous mother, an unnamed father, a secret diary and a priceless church relic become the pieces in a puzzle of grim awakening and dark suspicion.
It takes the brutal murder of an old wood-carver to expose the festering secrets of this mountain community where the dead tell no tales -- and a killer plots to ensure Fever joins their eternal silence.

My Review: So. Further proof the hardest reviews to write are the “yeah, it's okay” ones. It's not horrible, it's not excellent, it's not fascinating, it's not repulsive.

Would I read another one? Yeah. Will I seek another one out? No. Fever Devilin (what a dumb name) is not my bestie, like Gamache would be if he was here. It's better than ~meh~ and not as good as it should have been. I liked the folktales scattered around. The secrets, when revealed, aren't all that interesting or surprising. The second murder made me mad, which is why I kept on at all.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[BookAddict · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone that can write "The sky above us staggered under the weight of the stars. The night air, trembling with light rain, seemed uncertain that it would or even could support the weight of all that light. The little cabin, sad as it was, tried its best to present itself somehow better than it was" in a mystery certainly deserves more than cursory attention. Thus begins Phillip DePoy's Fever Devlin series set in rural Georgia. The crime here is that more people haven't discovered this series. When I discovered them they were out of print and a dear aunt who just happens to live in rural Georgia, lent the first two to me with dire threats should they not be returned. Even if you don't like a good mystery itself, relish in someone who writes them like a poet.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a long book, but it is wonderfully written. It was highly recommended by someone on DorothyL.

I have not visited this part of the US but may want to now.

The style of writing is different, a bit convoluted, but I was not put off by that.

Some of the characters were somewhat stereotyped, but all were easy to remember. I would love to have a sound track to accompany this, or at least a list of recommended artists to enjoy.

The protagonist was very disturbed, and clearly coming home to a place where some traumatic things had occurred. As he works through the mystery, he uncovers repressed memories as well.

I borrowed a copy of this from the public library.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE DEVIL'S HEARTH (Amateur Sleuth-Georgia-Cont) – G+
DePoy, Phillip – 1st in series
St. Martin's Press, 2002 – Hardcover
Folklorist Fever Devlin has left academia and is moving back to his family home in the Blue Mountains of Georgia. However, he doesn't expect his reception to be a dead body on his front steps and bullets headed his direction. When he learns with body is that of a half-brother, about whom he never knew, Fever decides he'd better learn more about his past.
*** With a mix of music, craftsmanship, food and moonshine, we are given a wonderful sense of life in Fever's Appalachia. But DePoy also includes the dark side of folklore and secrets. Fever is an intriguing protagonist supported by interesting secondary characters and a few stereotypes to lighten the mood. Since I've already ordered the next in the series, I'd say that's a definite recommend.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just not the book for me. I could not relate to the main character, Fever at all. He returns to his boyhood mountain cabin to find a dead body on his porch. He interacts with the town people who all seem weird. The best part of this book for me was the passion for chair-making shown by one of the characters. Other than that, a lose for me.

[Anne Kabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always on the lookout for books similar to one of my favorite authors, Sharyn McCrumb, which are set in the Appalachians and are full of mountain lore. This series seems promising.

[Lizabeth Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr. Fever Devilin decides to return home after his folklore department is shut down at Burrison University in Atlanta. Unfortunately he's welcomed home with a dead body on the porch and signs that someone, probably the victim, was living in the cabin.

When Dev's best friend from childhood, Deputy Skidmore Needle, meets Dev's best friend from the University, Dr. Winton Andrews, they agree that the mystery will only be solved if the three of them work together to investigate.

The mystery was somewhat convoluted and, frankly, weird even for the hills of North Georgia. The characters are peculiar to lengths that I don't believe was necessary, even the "normal" ones are off-center. I did enjoy the folktales woven into the story, so that was a plus. And the imagery DePoy gives us is extraordinary. Such as this passage from the very first page of the book: "The sky above us staggered under the weight of stars. The night air, trembling with light rain, seemed uncertain that it would or could support the weight of all that light. The little cabin, sad as it was, tried its best to lean into the moon's ladled silver -- a heartbreaking attempt to present itself somehow better than it was."

While I enjoyed this book and will probably read more in the series, I prefer DePoy's other series set in 1970s Florida. Although I'm familiar with both regions, I think the Florida characterizations are more on target and less exaggerated. 3.5 out of 5.

[Terry Steinborn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting mystery set in the very southern Appalachians of N Georgia. The protagonist, Fever Devilin is a native of the town and also a professor (ex-?) of folklore at a small college in Atlanta. He has recently left the college and returned home to do more extensive research and writing on the folk customs and artifacts of the region. He arrives at his old home to find a childhood friend, now a deputy sheriff on his porch along with a recently shot body, who, he discovers, was his half brother. The story gets more involved from that point on the way to the solution of the murder mystery. The professor is rather a misfit in the tightly interwoven community, and this causes some interesting situations with the townspeople, many of whom seem to know more about him than he does himself. The book offers and interesting look into the centuries old customs that shaped this very isolated and ingrown region.

[Lizzann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had picked up the 4th Fever Devilin book, The Widows Curse, and didn't care for the writing style. Too wrapped up in flowery descriptions, metaphor, and comparison. Lots of action under cover of a dark night to wrap it up after 200 or so pages. Such mystery series are not my favorite and I usually will only read the first one. So I read The Devil's Hearth. I had the same reaction. Although there was a passage about a virtuoso violinist taking everyone on flights of fancy with his playing that I found a good description of the power of music.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not quite sure what to say about this one. A lot going on in this book. Family secrets, psychological damage, folkways (not sure that’s the word I want), chicanery, poetical descriptions…. Complex & suspenseful enough to keep me interested (best read in longer sessions, I think, so you can really get into it). Also complex enough that I’m not sure if everything was tied up. Probably not, since the end repeats “some questions are better left unanswered”. I will say, tho, that having a suspenseful scene resolved by having the “bad guy” just fall off a cliff seemed a bit too easy.

[Deb W · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this after reading the 2nd in the series, and like the 2nd, it's a good enough story, but not a great story. DePoy's writing is okay, but it sort of seems like he wrote the plot to allow him to share stories with his readers rather than being a stand-alone plot that is a good story.

Probably that will only make sense to me.

Anyway, it's probably just as well that my library doesn't have the series, so I can use that as an excuse for not reading more. Who knows, it might develop into a great series.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than any book I've read recently. Yes, it's a murder mystery, but it's fun in places, serious, and philosophical in other places. A college professor who specializes in folklore losses his job and returns to his home in the Georgia mountains.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Appalachian folklore stories. You learn so much about the people; have they react to their place in life; how stores are passed down; how there is some truth in everything. This one is extremely interesting.

[Cynthia Lowell · Rating 3 out of 5]

MPL book club book for April 2018

Hills of Georgia USA has
Circus people, snake charming worshipers, and was
One given a Higher education then returns to home.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book, I am totally addicted to Fever Devilin. I can't wait to find another of DePoy's books.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the story telling in book but was expecting more of a buildup towards the end. I will read more of this series though.

[Melissa Livermore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author goes off on frequent tangents that have little to do with the main story line...it is annoying and frustrating at times

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story with a literary feel

[Veronica-Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first in a series of books called 'The Fever Devlin Mysteries'. At first the style of writing is so down-home laid-back that I thought I might be in an old Andy Griffith movie, but as it went on it deepened in its purity of lyrical prose and descriptive verse that I literally eased into this magical environment of days long gone by. To say I had the murderer dead to rights is a mistake as his forte is placing the reader in a position where he thinks he knows only to find out he did not see that coming... I love that. Phillip DePoy is a grand writer and I look forward to uncovering more of this mystery writer's books.

[lynne fireheart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excerpt from Page 4:
"Dev?" (Skidmore) looked off into the woods. "I believe someone's shooting at us with some kind of rifle."

"You might be right, Skid." (Fever) looked at the (broken) window. "Whom, do you suppose, would care to do that?"

"Could be the Devroe boys," he said calmly. "I believe I saw them out hunting earlier this evening."

"We don't look much like wild pigs."

"What should we do?" I asked Skidmore

"Well, he answered with a little jut of his chin, "I believe I'll get out of the way. They might be trying to shoot at something behind us, and I don't wasnt to confuse them."

"You're probably right," I agreed. "Mind if I join you?"

Only at page 4 and this is not the first "understated passage" to greet you. Gallows humor, is that what this is? Whatever. It's very amusing, and throughout this book, which explores the solving of the mystery of a dead man shot dead on the steps of Fever Devilin's house over in the Georgian Appalachians, we encounter run-ins with locals who tell you so much with what they DON'T tell, if you know what I mean.

Heck, in my mind I had everyone talking with Forrest Gump like diction, everyone was painted so country bumpkin-like. But in a good way!

Fever Devilin is a folklorist who returns to his hometown, where many of the old timers still practice amazing folk art such as Mouth Music, Sacred Harp, and play things like the psaltry, and go snake raising. [I think I'd like to read up more on all this :-) It sounds fascinating] Anyways, Fever returns, there's this body on his doorstep, and in the process of discovering why that person had been staying in his house, he discovers many secrets hidden for a lifetime within that community.

I don't want to give away spoilers. I'll just say that the glimpse into a fascinating (and obviously dying) culture/tradition certainly bolstered what was otherwise a regular whodunnit.

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a Fever book before (It might even been this one years ago because parts seemed familiar). I got this first one from the library sale and honestly, I see it less as a mystery and more of a celebration of Appalachian culture and music. I live in Applachia (not as deep as this book is set) and I do not have the rosy opinion of it as the author/Fever Devilin does. (It's not that I hate it but it's also not really for me).

Fever has left his job as a folklorist at the university as his dept has been shutdown and he has returned home to his family cabin in Georgia only to meet up with childhood friend, Skid, now a deputy and the body of his unknown dead half brother on the porch. Also in the picture is Lucinda, his first love, Junie and Hek who is the preacher of a snake-handling sect, Shoo who makes Appalachian chairs and Carson the blind violinist. Fever is also a musician, playing mandolin. Fever's friend, Andrews, a Shakespeare scholar also shows up, curious thanks to Fever and Fever's mentor, Dr. Bishop who used to be dean of the dept.

Fever's background is odd. He gets these feverish fits and all his friends think he's 'special' He's also a genius born of a rather slutty mother who danced in a traveling show run by his magician father. Both are now gone.

The story is less about his dead half brother and more about Fever's life and all the lies told to him because these Hill people keep their secrets and 'protect' Fever. I disagree. People who keep things from you even when bodies are dropping to 'protect you' aren't doing that and they really aren't friends.

But it is necessary for the plot. I wasn't surprised by the ending because I'm not sure who else it could be. I didn't hate this book by any means but I didn't love it.Fever comes off as a condenscending pompous professor who finds value only in their music and culture and everything else is dismissed with the utmost snobbery. I didn't particularly like him. I did like Skid though.

[M Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book in the series of mysteries featuring folklore professor Fever Devlin, whose return home to the hills of Georgia instigates two murders, other shootings, cryptic hints from the people he thought were his friends, and the invasion of his mountain home by other academics.

I first encountered Phillip DePoy some years ago when he and I corresponded and spoke long-distance about a script of his that my then-company was interested in producing. The production never happened but Mr. DePoy was kind enough, during our correspondence, to send me a copy of "Easy," the first book in his other mystery series featuring Flap Tucker. I enjoyed it but for one reason or another did not pursue the series. Some time later, I stumbled across the third Fever Devlin book, "A Minister's Ghost," and enjoyed it immensely. When I found two more in the series at a local bookstore, I decided to invest some time with Dr. Devlin.

I'm glad I did. The setting in the Appalachian woods appeals to me a good deal. The people are much like my own family from the Ozark foothills and the background of folklore appeals to me as well. DePoy works in a good deal of the latter as Fever Devlin struggles to interpret the murderous goings on around him through his academic discipline. There are also recurring themes of faith vs. knowledge and other religious symbology, both interesting to me. It's no accident that Fever has a trio (or trinity) of men whom he considers his surrogate fathers in the town where he grew up, nor that another three men are potentially his biological father.

And, perhaps most importantly, all the characters are engaging (good and bad) and the mystery is a cracker. There is just enough ambiguity in the final result to retain a sense of ultimate mystery about the town and its folk and even Fever himself to make me want more.

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOTTOM LINE: #1 Dr. Fever Devilin, folklorist, rural Georgia; cosy, amateur sleuth. Noted academic returns to his roots after twenty years away, and finds friends - and enemies - galore, good food, great music, and several very interesting situations that seem to have just been waiting for him.

With its strong murder mystery plot and a nice bit of “coming of age” folded in, this was very interesting, not overly cute or coyly "downhome-ish". DePoy has taken a sharply plotted murder mystery and mixed it with an oblique plot about Devilin’s past, and there’s a nice climax at the end that while almost unbelievable physically actually “works” emotionally as a connector to all that’s been happening.

Very moody and plush in tone, but very slyly funny too, and there are patches of quietly beautiful writing that pulls you into the place. I’ll gladly read the next in series, THE WITCH’S GRAVE, 2004.

[Sharon Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this to be a rather strange book, definitely not my usual type of mystery. There were a lot of things I enjoyed about it and a few that more or less left me frowning and shaking my head. Good, vivid characters and lush, almost poetic description of the setting, which works well for the locality.

I found the main character puzzling at times, somewhat of a misfit, returning to his rural home after years away in a city/college employment, incredibly intelligent but confused himself. Author definitely has a way with words and after having lived in the SE myaelf for the last few years, I think he did well with the atmosphere and culture.

A lot of backstory involved, which got somewhat confusing with the reticence of the 'home folks', a strong strain of folklore and music, both of which I particularly enjoy.

[Linda Branham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book but not as much as I have Depoy's other novels
Unfortunately I read Depoy's last book in the Fever Devlin series first - so I went back and started with the first book
This book introduces Fever Devlin who is a prof. at an university in Georgia. This is a unique book as it is not the usual formula type mystery.If you like folklore, this is a book for you. History is written from the stories or folktales told from generation to generation. Sometimes as is human nature the tale is twisted to serve the needs of the story teller and the truth gets blurred. This story takes place in Appalachia. Depoy want us not to forget the type of life that exists there. Fever gets together with two other guys to find out who killed his half brother. It is a different story and I plan to read the rest of the books in the series.

[Robbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost put this book down for good because I have a very hard time with the style of dialog between men that's used her. Plus, I guess I felt intellectually inadequate because I wasn't able to follow the "in" academic jokes and references and that made me want to give up right at the beginning.

But...I kept on reading because I had initially been tempted by the publisher's summary of the book's subject. I'm glad I did. The beautiful descriptive language more than makes up for the uncomfortable (for me) dialog and I'm drawn to the story of the mountains and the people who thrive there. Any writer who can make me want to be there in person to observer his story happening is worth reading.

[Christina]

This is (I think) the first in the Fever Develin series from this author. From a 'suggested' link on Amazon, I stumbled onto this series, and have really loved the sense of place (the Georgia Applachians) and the obvious love and respect with which the author views it and its traditions and inhabitants.
Each mystery shows us another slice of life in the tiny town and gives us more background of our protagonist, Fever, in a moving and entertaining way.

[Melanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the deadpan, very understated humor as well as the folkloric links, but the Appalachian portrayal seems rather one-sided -- showing just the more old-fashioned side and almost no current culture.

The mystery was decent. It's not truly predictable, but there are plenty of clues to allow you to figure out the culprit long before the end.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a mix of music, craftsmanship, food and moonshine, we are given a wonderful sense of life in Fever's Appalachia. But DePoy also includes the dark side of folklore and secrets. Fever is an intriguing protagonist supported by interesting secondary characters and a few stereotypes to lighten the mood.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fresh voice in mystery. I was impressed with his respect for the Blue Ridge culture and his making it accessible for the reader. It brought to life an older way of life which is disappearing. The mystery was predictable, but the characters held my interest to the end. I'll be looking for more books by this author.