Fever Devilin Series by Phillip DePoy

"Fever Devilin was raised among the hill-country people of the deep Georgia Appalachians and their seemingly simple folkways are in his blood and his soul. His own family, however, was another matter, and at sixteen he left home for college, returning only rarely and always under protest. In the years to come, Fever became a noted folklorist of the Appalachian region and a college professor... more"Fever Devilin was raised among the hill-country people of the deep Georgia Appalachians and their seemingly simple folkways are in his blood and his soul. His own family, however, was another matter, and at sixteen he left home for college, returning only rarely and always under protest. In the years to come, Fever became a noted folklorist of the Appalachian region and a college professor. He never quite adjusted to the realities of city life and academic politics, and has now returned to the deceptively quiet life among his people. But below the surface, nothing is ever as quiet and simple as it appears." When Truevine Deveroe, a local girl reputed to be a witch, goes missing and the local mortician, acknowledged as an unpleasant character, turns up dead near Devilin's home, Able Carter, fiance of the missing girl, is suspected of killing them both. Tied by friendship and long-term enmity to all of the principals, Fever finds himself in the midst of a very difficult situation. To make matters even worse, the brothers of the missing girl are determined to find Carter - who's gone on the lam - and administer their own brand of justice. With precious little time, lives at stake, and a missing girl to be found, Devilin must unravel the mystery behind this perplexing series of events - events somehow related to the hidden history of the area and the old folk legend of the witch's grave. less

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... moreFever 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 girls' deaths. His promise leads him through a maze of train-hopping drifters, old ghost stories, and the wild ravings of an itinerant preacher - as he attempts to uncover the truth behind the tales that are told and the visions that are seen. less

Fever Devilin, a folklorist by inclination and training, was born and raised amongst the hill-country folk of the Georgia Appalachians and it was there that he returned once he decided to leave academia.  And he's the perfect person to turn to when the owner of a mysterious medallion, one with some connection to the area, wants to uncover the provenance of the piece.  On the surface, it sounds simple enough but in Fever's life, nothing is ever simple... moreFever Devilin, a folklorist by inclination and training, was born and raised amongst the hill-country folk of the Georgia Appalachians and it was there that he returned once he decided to leave academia.  And he's the perfect person to turn to when the owner of a mysterious medallion, one with some connection to the area, wants to uncover the provenance of the piece.  On the surface, it sounds simple enough but in Fever's life, nothing is ever simple.  Especially when the medallion's owner is found dead, murdered, in Fever's own house and the papers of Fever's late grandfather, of no intrinsic value, are stolen. And Fever himself in the prime suspect in the murder.      The only clue to the truth behind these confusing events is the medallion itself, which is somehow tied to Fever's secretive family's history. With someone trying to frame him for the murder and other hidden forces hot on the trail of the medallion itself, Fever is wedged tightly between the proverbial 'rock' and equally proverbial 'hard place.' And the only possible way out is buried within the uncomfortable hidden truths about his own family that Fever has spent years trying to avoid. less

"DePoy, a folklorist, excels at providing local color and creating complex characters. The story unfolds slowly and lyrically, giving readers a sense of small-town Appalachian atmosphere." –Booklist on A Minister’s Ghost"By far DePoy’s best, with top-notch plotting, full-blown characters, and a bit of Shakespeare thrown in... more"DePoy, a folklorist, excels at providing local color and creating complex characters. The story unfolds slowly and lyrically, giving readers a sense of small-town Appalachian atmosphere." –Booklist on A Minister’s Ghost"By far DePoy’s best, with top-notch plotting, full-blown characters, and a bit of Shakespeare thrown in." – Kirkus Reviews (starred) on A Minister’s Ghost Fever Devilin, born and raised amongst the hill country folk of the Georgia Appalachians, left home a long time ago and pursued an education, then a career, in the wider outside world. A folklorist by inclination and profession, he left the strange world of academia behind to return to his family-home in the if-anything-stranger mountain town he grew up in. But oddness follows Fever wherever he goes and Blue Mountain, Georgia is no different.When a man shows up at his house, claiming to be over a hundred years old even though he looks like he’s in his 30’s, Fever is pretty sure his guest is not right. When the man starts to wave a gun around, then falls suddenly asleep immediately afterward, Fever thinks he’s both "not right" and "dangerous" and slips out to call the sheriff. The sheriff, Fever’s childhood friend, has been hearing reports of this particular vagrant all day but before he can get out there, the man disappears.In the early morning, the body of man that fits the description of the mysterious vagrant is found by the side of the road, shot to death. But, although the body is wearing the same clothes that the vagrant was, it isn’t the same person. less

"Storytelling at its finest...beguiling!" -- Kirkus Reviews (starred) on The Drifter's WheelFever Devilin is killed by an intruder. He doesn’t stay dead - thanks to an emergency medical team - but he does slip into a months-long coma. When he comes out of it, there are two things he now knows: that he’s been dreaming about the legendary Paris 20's café scene and that his would-be killer was after a blue tin box, containing a photo of what Fever believes to be an angel... more"Storytelling at its finest...beguiling!" -- Kirkus Reviews (starred) on The Drifter's WheelFever Devilin is killed by an intruder. He doesn’t stay dead - thanks to an emergency medical team - but he does slip into a months-long coma. When he comes out of it, there are two things he now knows: that he’s been dreaming about the legendary Paris 20's café scene and that his would-be killer was after a blue tin box, containing a photo of what Fever believes to be an angel. As Fever struggles to recover, out there is a would-be killer who must be found while there's still time. less

"December's thorn, cruelest in the wood, Will give no rose, but still draw blood" —TraditionalLife in Blue Mountain, a small town in the heart of Georgia’s Appalachian region, is rarely normal. Nothing is ever quite what it seems, and the past...well, the past is always complicated. Fever Devilin is a folklorist and recovering academic who was raised among those contradictions and later returned to his family home... more"December's thorn, cruelest in the wood, Will give no rose, but still draw blood" —TraditionalLife in Blue Mountain, a small town in the heart of Georgia’s Appalachian region, is rarely normal. Nothing is ever quite what it seems, and the past...well, the past is always complicated. Fever Devilin is a folklorist and recovering academic who was raised among those contradictions and later returned to his family home. While on the mend from a near-fatal experience, Fever is visited by a woman who claims to be his wife, and she is there to deliver the shocking news that Fever has a son.His friends don't really believe she exists—they think she's another hallucination of a mind still slowly recovering from a long-term coma. Fever's fiancée is torn between outrage and concern for his mental health. And the fact that Fever, even in the best of times, has a tendency to see things that may not, strictly speaking, exist isn’t helping one bit. But when someone starts shooting at Fever using very real bullets from a very real rifle, everyone can agree upon is that there's something deadly going on. All Fever has to do is sort out who’s real, who’s not, and who is trying to kill him before they actually succeed. less