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 Ministers Ghost
By far DePoys best, with top-notch plotting, full-blown characters, and a bit of Shakespeare thrown in. Kirkus Reviews (starred) on A Ministers 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 hes in his 30s, 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 hes both not right and dangerous and slips out to call the sheriff. The sheriff, Fevers 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 isnt the same person.
