I recently received a copy of Susan Whitfield’s novel Hell Swamp, and boy was I impressed. Hell Swamp is the third Logan Hunter novel (at the moment there are four total), a series of mystery novels set in different locales across the state of North Carolina. The author is a native of the Tar Heel state, so we’ll spare her any criticism for not setting her books in the real Carolina to the south.

Sorry. My wife made me put that dig in there. She’s a South Carolina native, so she’s partial. Personally, I think all the North and South Carolina back and forth is silly. Everyone knows that the Tennessee is the promised land.

Ahem. Yeah, so back to the review.

Logan Hunter works as an agent with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) as a homicide investigator for cases that the local constabulary either can’t or won’t handle themselves. She’s tall, feisty, and one hell of a detective. There’s more to her than that, but I’ll let the author tell you all about it, seeing as she can tell it way better than I can. The events of Hell Swamp take Agent Hunter to Pender County, North Carolina, a rural area along the Black river way back in the sticks. It also happens to be the home of the novel’s namesake, an inviting little place called Hell Swamp full of wonderful things like alligators and snakes and mosquitos about three hundred other things that can eat you alive. A local animal rights activist (and town-crazy lady) has been found in her home strung up from her chandelier and gutted like an eight point buck. When she learns that the victim was militant and threatening in her activism (while living in prime hunting territory, no less), she immediately steers her investigation toward the local hunting community. She interviews a dizzying array of personalities, almost all of which have some sort of motive for the murder, but not one of them seems good for it. Undaunted, Logan keeps digging. She gets help from her fiancé and fellow SBI Agent Chase Railey along the way, is nearly killed twice, and keeps pushing until she finally starts to unravel the mystery of Hell Swamp.

What struck me most about this book was the setting. Whitfield describes it in vivid detail, so much so that I was able to envision the scenes perfectly in my mind’s eye. It helped that I’ve spent a lot of time in the Low Country of South Carolina, riding on the Waccamaw River, slogging through swamps and fishing the backwaters of the low country reservoirs, but a lot of credit goes to the author for so brilliantly capturing the essence of the locale. The novel also reads like a southern cookbook. There is hardly a chapter that goes by that doesn’t have some sort of mouth-watering meal described. And the murder mystery itself is quite intriguing, with Hunter being pulled in different directions and never quite knowing who to expect. I called the murderer about halfway in (I said I was a know-it-all, didn’t I), but by the end of it Whitfield had me rethinking my initial assessment. She kept it interesting, and sometimes with crime/mystery stories that can be easier said than done.

There were some little things in the narrative, however, that struck me as odd. For one, the story’s climax just seemed to kind of… happen. There was the appropriate lead-up and pacing of course, but all of the principle players showed up at the same place at the same time with little explanation of how they got there or why. I can see there being possible reasons for everything taking place the way it did, but none of it was really explained to my satisfaction within the narrative. But then again, maybe I’m just hard to please.

Logan also fired her service weapon in order to stop an old man who was walking away and then threatened said old man by putting her gun against his head. That’s not something (as far as I know) that a trained investigator would do, especially when the said old man hadn’t done anything threatening and wasn’t even a suspect at the time. It didn’t have a critical bearing on the story as a whole, but it was still a little jarring. Also, later on in the narrative one of the characters dies from drinking Wild Turkey spiked with antifreeze. Now antifreeze can kill you, no doubt, but here’s the problem: ethylene glycol (the main ingredient in anti-freeze) is sweet tasting, hence the reason why dogs commonly die from eating it. If a sweet, viscous substance like antifreeze was added to Wild Turkey, I would think that anybody who’d ever tasted whiskey before (and this fellow was well acquainted with his alcohol) would notice something was wrong immediately, and one swallow probably wouldn’t be enough to kill. Anti-freeze has been used in deliberate poisonings before, but it’s been added to things that were supposed to be sweet, not straight liquor. Plus, wasting a good whiskey like that is just cruel. If you’re going to ruin some whiskey by adding anti-freeze, use something that’s already foul like Four Roses or George Dickel. But that’s just the whiskey drinker in me talking.

Despite all my whining Hell Swamp was still a good book to get lost in for a few hours. Of all things I mentioned, not one of them was important enough to ruin my enjoyment of the book. The setting is immersive, the characters are intriguing, and mystery is one hell (pardon the pun) of a ride. I give it three and a half stars.

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TITLE: Hell Swamp
AUTHOR: Susan Whitfield
PUBLISHER: L&L Dreamspell
FORMAT: Paperback, Kindle
GENRE: Mystery
PAGES: 196
PRICE: $12.44
KINDLE PRICE: $4.79
ISBN-10: 160318094X
ISBN-13: 9781603180948
ASIN: B001SK4JUI

Deep in the mountains of North Carolina, near the Black River, lives a woman who is an avid animal rights activist. She lets the residents of her small town know how disgusted she is of their hunting and that she doesn’t care if they’re hunting for sport or food! Because of this, all the residents of this small mountain town are angry at her.

The local sheriff is called in when she is found dead in her home, gutted like a deer and left hanging from a garret on her chandelier. Who would do such a despicable thing? The sheriff’s office can’t figure it out so they call in the S.B.I. A beautiful agent named Logan Hunter is assigned to the case.

Logan decides to talk to some of the residents for leads but is stonewalled. They won’t answer her questions but she is determined to solve the grizzly murder and to do that she has to get somebody to talk to her. Slowly, she makes friends with some of the residents and she quickly learns that these people live by their own rules! Along the way, she gathers a lot of information and learns that the list of murder suspects is long.

Soon, small dogs and cats are found dead. Is this somehow related to the murder? Or will Logan find a cult of some kind?

This book is a page turner! Each time Logan Hunter seems to have closed in on the killer, there is a twist and she is pointed in another direction. Believe me; if you like curling up with a good mystery, you’ll definitely like this!

This is Ms. Whitfield’s third novel in the Logan Hunter series. Her colorful descriptions of the region and the residents put you into the book! ( )

Hell Swamp throws the reader straight into the investigation of a truly gruesome murder, but the beautifully described scenery on the journey lightens to the tone. The author’s deft hand with conversation brings characters and location to life, with a particularly memorable discussion where local men don’t recognize a hoop earring. Agent Hunter proves an able investigator, noting the cloudy water from thawing vegetables, bagging and tagging evidence, and tolerating the missteps of unseasoned country coroners with wise aplomb.

The story slows when Hunter’s back-story intervenes, with reminiscences about her past and promises for her future. But beautiful descriptions bring time and place to life, and the present tale is more than able to keep the reader turning pages, with telling details of plants and foliage that always come back to research and evidence.

Hell Swamp, up close and personal, soon lives up to its name. And danger, up close and personal, sends the reader on a wild exciting ride to find the killer. All the suspects seem so nice, if oddly named—and cook so well, sweetening the tale with some truly fascinating culinary detours.

Despite the intervention of personal problems, Hunter’s hunt moves inexorably forwards. Red herrings (or catfish) are chased and caught, and the killer’s final identity is revealed in a truly surprising conclusion.

It’s an exciting novel that rises confidently above its occasionally meanderings and typos. A fascinating cast of characters carve a place in the reader’s memory, and a pair of lead investigators draw the reader on, promising more of their relationship and more mysteries to come. ( )

SBI agent Logan Hunter is called back from personal leave to investigate a brutal murder along the banks of the Black River in Ivanhoe, North Carolina, where animal rights activist Clara Banoak is found hanging from her chandelier, gutted like a deer. Logan quickly learns that Banoak was outspoken in her views against harming animals and had more enemies than friends in this hunter-infested area. Due to an outbreak of the flu, Logan is initially on her own as she investigates the murder, developing a long list of suspects. When she gets too close, Logan is assaulted and left to die in Hell Swamp. More determined than ever, she doggedly pursues her case, uncovering other heinous crimes, with danger lurking around every corner.

Hell Swamp, book number three in the Logan Hunter Mystery series, is an intriguing thriller. Logan Hunter is an interesting character: a woman with backbone who does not let the threat of peril get in her way; an investigator committed to her case who will not stop until it’s closed. Whitfield adds a nice touch of romance with Logan’s lover, fellow SBI agent Chase Riley. The plot moves at a fast pace with an abundance of suspense and suspects, offering a mystery readers will be challenged to solve. ( )