Greg Iles

The Devil's Punchbowl is a deep pit near the river in Natchez, Mississippi, which holds the bodies of numerous murder victims and -- according to rumor -- the buried treasure of Jean Lafitte. It's a dangerous place, a kudzu-strangled, snake- rat- and armadillo-infested hole so deep that you can't see the bottom. Against this backdrop, Iles' protagonist Penn Cage (The Quiet Game) returns in a mix of murder, racial tension and double-crosses.