Devil Dancer

by William Heath

In Late August of 1972, when the prize stallion Devil Dancer in shot, Wendell Clay, a war veteran recently turned detective, volunteers to solve the case. His investigation becomes a three day ordeal that teaches him more than he ever wanted to know about the dark places of the heart. Distinguished by its evocation of the Kentucky bluegrass region, as well as its range of authentic voices -- from pickpockets, black hipsters, and Mafia thugs, to the elite of the horse farm world - the novel deftly dramatizes a grim yet compassionate view of existence. As the action moves from the lush opulence of Sycamore Springs Farm to the sleazy underside of Lexington and the mobbed-up dives of Newport, Kentucky, Wendell interrogates a set of memorable characters whose tales lure him into a labyrinth where mazes devised by others merge with his own twisted desires. The novel combines poetic texture and mythic resonance with a mastery of character, voice, scene, and plot. While contemporary in its sensibility, Devil Dancer draws upon some of the oldest literary traditions of people swapping stories to sustain each other and a mortal man's confrontation with the mystery of life.

275 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

1737-1814

Reviews

[Humbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original, moving, and well written. A cut above most detective fiction available these days. I highly recommend it, not only to mystery buffs but to anybody looking for a good read.

I subscribe to Publishers Weekly. Here's their review of this novel:

"When Wendell had turned forty several years before, one of his friends had quipped: 'You're on the back nine now.' That was how he felt, sweating in the mid-afternoon heat, exhausted and ineffectual, as if he had been hiking up endless fairways beneath a relentless sun and three-putting every green." Meet Wendell Clay, a war veteran and detective who offers his assistance in the mysterious case of a prize horse--the titular Devil Dancer--that turs up dead. In this entertaining novel, Heath delivers a fascinating and well-crafted tale that takes the mystery of the noir genre and injects it into Kentucky circa the sweltering summer of 1972. Wendell's investigation proves to be a good old-fashioned barn burner as a cast of rather colorful characters stumble into view the deeper he gets, leading to a rousing climax."

[Karen Sootsman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book! I know the author, Wilma Angus, who will be 100 years old in October. I can’t wait to read the sequel to find out how her relationship evolved with her abusive mother and horrible sister, June. This book reminds me a little of The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls.