Carolyn Haines, Fever Moon

Fever Moon

Carolyn Haines

St. Martin's Feb 2007, $23.95, 288 pp.

ISBN 0312351615

In New Iberia, Louisiana in 1944, the war effort is causing serious shortages and families are losing their men folk to the fighting oversees. Deputy Raymond Thibodeaux went off to war with his brother but when Antoine died, he became a killing machine until he was wounded and sectioned out. His work and his visit to the town lady are the only bright spots in his lonely existence He lives with the fear that shrapnel in his back will move and cause him to be paralyzed.

Called out to Beaver Creek, Raymond finds the dead body of wealthy plantation owner and businessman Henri Bastion; next to him, covered in blood, is Adele Herbert who says she is a loup-garou (werewolf). He finds she is running a high fever and doesn't believe that she killed the man or that she is a loup-garou but the townsfolk who believe in such things are ready to lynch her. When a child goes missing and is nowhere to be found the people believe she took the child. A second death brings the locals to the point of violence; to prevent an injustice Raymond must find the real killer.

The superstitions of the deep rural areas of 1940s Louisiana are looked upon as facts by much of the residents. Adele is different and the circumstances make the townsfolk believe that she is a killing loup-garou. The hero, wounded in mind and body, sees Adele as his redemption for the death of his brother who followed him into the war. Southern town living is pictured very vividly and the investigation is so realistic that readers will find themselves caught in the events. Carolyn Haines latest crime thriller is dark, gothic in tone and totally fascinating.

Harriet Klausner