In the Valley of the Devil

Private investigator Earl Marcus thought he’d conquered his demons after vanquishing the malevolent spirit of his fundamentalist preacher father—but now, he must face something much more terrifying than the devil he knew.

Earl Marcus found new hope after confronting the unspeakable evil unleashed by his father’s fundamentalist Church of the Holy Flame. Now plying his trade as a private investigator in the North Georgia mountains, he’s drawn once again into a dark abyss of depravity, and murder.

Tasked with what seems like a routine job, Earl stumbles into a mysterious cornfield where an old mountain legend appears to have awakened. Just as he begins to hear rumors of a place in the woods behind a dark cornfield where a killer collects human skulls, his partner Mary Hawkins vanishes.

As the litany of terror grows, the poisoned spirits of Earl’s past return to claim their final victims. And on an old train trestle over a swift-running river at the edge of a cornfield Earl will confront his worst fears. Time is running out for Mary—and unless Earl can wrest her from the control of a secretive cabal comprised of some of the area’s most elite—and wealthiest—citizens, she could be lost to him forever in In the Valley of the Devil, the second harrowing installment of the Earl Marcus mysteries by Hank Early.

Hank Early is a middle school teacher and writer located in Central Alabama. He enjoys good beer, strong coffee, and wild storms. He’s married and has two kids who are constantly giving him ideas for his next novel. This is his second Earl Marcus mystery.