Lexi George’s charming Southern paranormal Demon Hunting in Dixie is an exercise in small town life gone gonzo. Ripe and almost to the point of bursting, George populates her mild mannered hamlet of Hannah, Alabama with all-you-can-eat zany characters and a demon infestation in the works. All of this makes for a boisterous paranormal with a strong romantic theme albeit light in conflict.

The sultry romance that springs up between Dalvahni warrior Brand and Addy is the big draw to Demon Hunting. It’s hot, believable and there’s plenty of it. For Southern beauty Adara Jean Corwin, life in a small town means everybody’s nose is in your business. She has a monster Southern mama named Bitsy to keep her in check, a perky floral business, a great BFF and an attitude to boot. What more could she want?

When Addy interrupts a strange scene in the woods that involves a flaming sword named Uriel, a super hottie stepping out of a portal, and wraith-like spectre, all bets are off. After tracking several djegrali to Hannah, Brand and his brother-in-arms Ansgar realize that Hannah is part of a fabled Dalvahni prophecy that foretells the end of time. Their paths and those of the infiltrating demons will converge to some unknown end.

What becomes a simple extermination mission is complicated by the fact that when Adara is marked by a djegrali, her mystery hottie Brand makes it his business to protect her. So begin the shenanigans in Hannah and Lexi George takes it to the limit with her Southern fried cast of characters.

Demon Hunting simmers with romance, and a large part of the book is devoted to it, perhaps too much so. The reader is never able to find out much about the Dalvahni, what set them on their quest, or why the djegrali and morkyn are their enemies. The backstory to Brand, Ansgar, and their entire race is nearly nonexistent, as is any movement of conflict in George’s novel. Some readers might wonder “Where’s the beef?” expecting more than a hilarious romp. Others might simply enjoy a light-hearted romance with a barrel full of laughs.

What shuttles Demon Hunting to the front of the class is its irresistible high jinx. Lexi George pummels readers with shot after shot of hilarious situations. Unforgettable scenes like The Grand Goober escapade, the mad shotgun dash to make a trophy of the god of Gorth-Sildhjort the silver stag, Roadkill Chic, “Whammying the Death Starr”, and my personal fav: the cat fight between Bessie Mae and Shirley over Dwight Farris’ “Johnson” (aka Sugar Scrotum’s lollipop), I nearly cried from laughing at that one.

It is only in the last thirty pages of the book where the real action occurs. When the big demon invasion descends on Hannah, it is simply a sight to be seen. Clad in the bodies of felons recently escaped from a local penitentiary, the djegrali make like hell-on-earth, and the Dalvahni break out the firepower. Little town life never had it so exciting. George does it well, and leaves a few cliffhangers by way of Ansgar and Evie, and the fact that some of Hannah’s residents might actually be djegrali descendants.

Characterization and comedy is clearly George’s forte, and Hannah teems with a plethora of quirky, but genuinely animated characters that will appeal to fans of Mary Janice Davidson, Molly Harper, and Dakota Cassidy who make tickling your funny bone high art.