Sin, sex, backwoods morals and the supernatural all come together in a strange brew of a novel called The All-Soul's Faire, a chilling mystery with elements of dark magick that will keep you guessing until the end.

Author Kristy Tallman writes about the backwoods of the Appalachian Mountain country of Virginia with skill, and so she should, having lived there and fallen prey to the mountain mystique. In The All-Soul's Faire, she deftly combines horror and crime suspense with some truly shocking elements involving deep dark secrets held by the enigmatic Hicks family, a family associated with the Devil himself.

Detective Cole Bryant is the likeable protagonist saddled with the job of discovering who is behind a series of brutal, ritualistic murders of young people in the North Mountain area, a region said to be cursed and full of legend and lore. Bryant hooks up with a lovely medical examiner named Janice, but before their love can blossom, he finds himself drawn closer to a magnetic backwoods man and his two beautiful daughters who are not what they seem to be on the surface.

Tallman combines descriptive scenes with solid dialog and intrigue that moves the story to the stunning, unexpected conclusion. The sex scenes are on-the-edge, and the supernatural underpinnings make this one spooky novel that will haunt you. But it’s the spell of the characters that most draw you into this story of sin and evil and the dark side of desire. You might even find yourself, when the story is over, asking that all-important question: What would you do?