Brimstone Hollow by Archer Sullivan (2026)
Nothing's better to cozy up with than a swiftly paced mystery steeped in the atmosphere of its location.....taking you to a place that seems so familiar and yet somehow strange and threatening at the same time.
And that would perfectly describe the rural Americana settings of Appalachia where Private Investigator Annie Gore operates. Her latest case takes her to a small town that was mystified and enthralled by a snake handling preacher.......until he was found dead, bitten and poisoned by the very reptiles that curled around his arms during his thundering sermons.
The preacher's daughter, raised by a mother who fled the marriage to her father, now hires Annie to look into why her father's funeral and burial came and went with such speed in that supposedly sleepy little town. Annie Gore, toughened by an unsettled childhood and her years as an Air Force investigator, won't leave that town until all of its darkest secrets are laid bare. Because it's clear that preacher Ezra King's death by snakebite was no accident and the increasing pile up of murders that follow more than bear that out.
Author Archer Sullivan knows her territory like only an Appalachian can and the town, with its bizarre church, supernatural rumors and notorious deep sulfur pit are vividly depicted. A dangerous place to poke your nose into private lives, but Annie Gore won't leave town until there's closure for her client and an end to the mysteries swirling around the high body count. .
The book's incredible, tragic reveals finally come at you one after the other. 'Brimstone Hollow' may not sound like an ideal vacation spot but it makes for a solidly page-turning whodunit.
And that would perfectly describe the rural Americana settings of Appalachia where Private Investigator Annie Gore operates. Her latest case takes her to a small town that was mystified and enthralled by a snake handling preacher.......until he was found dead, bitten and poisoned by the very reptiles that curled around his arms during his thundering sermons.
The preacher's daughter, raised by a mother who fled the marriage to her father, now hires Annie to look into why her father's funeral and burial came and went with such speed in that supposedly sleepy little town. Annie Gore, toughened by an unsettled childhood and her years as an Air Force investigator, won't leave that town until all of its darkest secrets are laid bare. Because it's clear that preacher Ezra King's death by snakebite was no accident and the increasing pile up of murders that follow more than bear that out.
Author Archer Sullivan knows her territory like only an Appalachian can and the town, with its bizarre church, supernatural rumors and notorious deep sulfur pit are vividly depicted. A dangerous place to poke your nose into private lives, but Annie Gore won't leave town until there's closure for her client and an end to the mysteries swirling around the high body count. .
The book's incredible, tragic reveals finally come at you one after the other. 'Brimstone Hollow' may not sound like an ideal vacation spot but it makes for a solidly page-turning whodunit.
4 stars (****).
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