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The Devil Can Wait (Sam Harper Crime Mystery)

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Three young teenager bodies wash up on the shores of Chandler, Massachusetts in eighteen days. If they all decayed at the same rate, it means someone is killing one teen every week and probably will continue at the same rate. Sam Harper knows that solving these murders has to be quickly accomplished but he doesn't have a single clue connecting the whys and wherefores to reach a credible, evidence-based conclusion.

A small village Mitu in southeastern Colombia, South America is home for a woman branded as a witch by her neighbors and a son who wants the ring she wears, a wide silver band encasing a black pearl with an inner inscription. For he knows that he will possess the powers of the ring's curse, power that can only pass to a natural heir of its present owner. Alejandro desperately needs this power to cement the security and revenge against a threatening drug dealer. From there anything's possible and more.

Jennifer Blake, a Chandler journalist, receives a mysterious call from a pawnshop owner. He wants her to deliver something to an anthropologist and knows she can accomplish it because she clearly has no belief in superstition and curses. That link somehow connects her in Sam Harper's mind to the unsolved murders and he's determined to ferret out the truth of the connection.

Marta Stephens has developed her crime mystery plotting and scheming to a remarkable degree! The Devil Can Wait is a tautly plotted, driven tale interweaving local revenge with an exotic tale about the twisted consequences of Vatican meddling and demonic prophecy sure to engage every true lover of superb mystery thrillers and making them want more, more, more.

Marta Stephens is a writer who deserves wider public recognition and high praise!

Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on November 3, 2008

Book Review: The Devil Can Wait by Marta Stephens
The Devil Can Wait: A Sam Harper Crime Mystery
by Marta Stephens
BeWrite Books, November 2008
Reviewed by Kathryn Magendie

When the bodies of three teenagers wash ashore, each killed in a unique and ritualistic way, detective Sam Harper steps on the job. As he plunges into the mystery surrounding these murders, things aren't always as they first appear. Then, there is another murder, but this one seems to be a copycat--or is it?, for while evidence can lead astray, a "dead body never lies." There are strange goings-on in the city of Chandler, and the bodies will multiply if Harper doesn't find answers. Add to the mix lack of sleep, pressure from community leaders and colleagues, a snarl in witnesses and the evidence, and Harper's frustration deepens.

While Harper works to solve the murders, there is evil and intrigue emerging in South America. A black pearl ring, traced back to the Vatican (and perhaps even fashioned by Satan himself?) becomes another "character." When the black pearl ring's mistress is murdered and the ring is stolen from her lifeless fingers, its purported successor is enraged, and he wants the ring back at any human cost. The ring will find its way to America via shady dealings, greed--and perhaps even by prophecy and the supernatural?

Enter reporter Jennifer Blake, who is not the clichéd crime drama blonde, blue eyed, and leggy, but a real Human Woman who Stephens fashioned strong and independent (but not invincible!). When she comes in possession of the ring as a favor to her old college professor, she not only puts herself in danger from a malevolent stranger, but when the pawnshop dealer she retrieves the ring from is murdered, she is considered a suspect by Sam Harper.

What forces are really behind the ring's legacy?

As Harper and Blake search for answers, the ring, the evil stranger, the Catholic Church, the innocent and the seemingly innocent will converge. As the plot unravels, danger comes not only from the expected, but from the unexpected. And, to make matters more intense, homicide detective Harper is cautioned he must hurry, for the alignment of the planets will occur on Christmas Eve, and what evil may come from the uniting of events that this mysterious ring portends?

I was swept away by intrigue and plot twists, for The Devil Can Wait is a true page-turner. Marta Stephens does an excellent job with scene setting, snappy, quick-paced dialogue, and well-written narrative. As well, since I read from an advanced review copy (the book went on sale November 3), I was impressed with the editorial mechanics of the novel.

Stephens writes with a firm, confident hand, and each chapter, even when changing points of view, glides smoothly to the next. The Devil Can Wait gives the reader plenty of twists and turns and, though she could easily have, Stephens does not rely on gratuitous violence but instead lets her good writing and a good crime story shine.

There were a couple of things I felt were left hanging that I wanted "cleaned up," but to tell them here would give away too much. That said, those things didn't take away from my appreciation of The Devil Can Wait. Also, I wanted more chapters in Harper's point of view. It is obvious from Stephen's crafting of character that Harper isn't some one-dimensional gumshoe, so more of his voice would have made me happier. However, there is enough about him to entice me to read more Sam Harper crime mysteries, for I found Harper to be tough, intelligent, a little hard-headed, but with a vulnerable side (who loves eating dinners with his dad) that made him human and likeable--I may have even fallen in love with him, just a little bit.

I look for more quick-paced, well-written novels from Marta Stephens. After many years of leaving this genre sitting on the shelves, Stephens has brought me back to the crime-mystery novel.

(review first on The Roses & THorns)

The Devil Can Wait, but I can't! Once I started reading this one, I had to keep going until the end. I've read both novels by Stephens and think this one is even better than the first, Silenced Cry. Highly recommended

"THE DEVIL CAN WAIT is a suspenseful freight train of action. . . Is it prophecy fulfilled or selfishness, greed, and bad choices? ". . . It shivers with reminders of the superstitious undertones of John Berendt's best selling non-fiction book, 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,' coupled with the suspenseful drama of the New York Times Best Selling Author, Gregg Olsen like his fiction crime novel, 'A Wicked Snow.' . . . "If you read only ONE book this season, make it THE DEVIL CAN WAIT....(more) ~ Lynn Pritchett, Contributing Writer, Suite101 Media, Inc.

Literarily speaking, the murder mystery genre has been excavated so thoroughly that one wonders how any author, emerging or seasoned, might find a way to put new spin on the unrepentant dastards who commit crimes, and the noir characters, some pensive and some quick with the snappy one-liners, who solve them. How do writers distinguish themselves in a seemingly saturated market?

Ask Marta Stephens. With a website that highlights her own works (www.martastephens-author.com) and another (http://murderby4.blogspot.com/) that welcomes new authors to her world of perps, molls and gumshoes, Marta knows how to put a fresh face on old caricatures. Her second novel, THE DEVIL CAN WAIT, proves that there still exists much yellow-taped, cordoned off territory to be explored.

Detective Sam Harper (the protagonist in Stephen's first novel, (SILENCED CRY) of the Chandler Police Department in Massachusetts, is summoned out of bed on a freezing morning before sunrise to view a floater by the bay, the third tattooed teenaged male to wash ashore in as many weeks, each murdered by different means; bludgeoning, strangulation, and now this, a throat rendered open by what appears to be knife-play. Sure, there seems to be a link among the deaths but where are the clues? At this point, there are none.

And so begins Harper's search for a serial killer. This kind of assignment is routine stuff to him, but in no way is he prepared for the journey that leads to the crime's resolution. And here is where THE DEVIL CAN WAIT parts company with other novels of this genus. From a small city in Massachusetts, we are suddenly transported to Mitu, an equatorial republic of Colombia, South America, where we are introduced to Alejandro, badly beaten as a consequence of skimming drugs from a dealer named Lorenzo. Alejandro's mother, Anita Salas tends his wounds while he ponders her fate. She is wanted by the military for the alleged murder of three priests from a local church who regarded her as a witch and devil worshiper. More worrisome, is her possession of an inscribed, black pearl ring believed to be prophetic and that is coveted by Lorenzo the drug dealer . . . and others.

The body count increases. We eventually meet Chandler Times reporter Jennifer Blake who while working on a story regarding the alignment of planets and ancient Mayan lore receives a phone call from her former Professor of Anthropology, Gaylord Mittendorf. Apparently, he possesses some inside scoop about the origins of a certain black pearl ring in South America that is drawing attention of individuals not of the legitimate auction variety.

Where does all of this lead us? To the Vatican and a mesmerizing, centuries-long history of a corrupt and perverse papacy tied to the black pearl ring and ultimately to the serial killer whose handiwork we were introduced to at the book's start. Where is Sam Harper and how is he linking these seemingly disparate events to the story's exciting closure? You will just have to be patient until THE DEVIL CAN WAIT is in your hands.

Marta Stephens' keen knowledge of forensics and her use of crisp dialogue and descriptive locales allow her to peek over the heads of other mystery writers in this overcrowded field. As Harper stands above the teenaged corpse, we can feel icy wind blowing over a snow-covered, New England beach. Alejandro struggles to sustain consciousness while a thug chauffeurs him through the jungle to his mother's house, and we smell the jungle canopy steaming with rainfall and palpate our own face as Stephens describes Alejandro's multiple head wounds. And finally, Sam Harper is not the caricature of a wiseguy, fast-talking urbane dick but is instead a believable police detective rife with character flaws and a doggedly determined persona. THE DEVIL CAN WAIT is a perfectly paced, 5-star read from beginning to end.

Harry Hughes, author of THE BAIT SHACK
www.hughesauthor.net

Could not put this book down and read it within 24 hours! I now need to go back and read all of Marta Stephen's Sam Harper books! Cannot wait to see more. As I am writing my first novel, I found this to also be a wonderful learning tool. She is not only makes the characters a part of your world, but keeps you in suspense until the end!

This is a masterfully written tale that rides the border between hard boiled crime mystery and an all out thriller. Her pacing was impeccable and her plotting more so. From the first page her characters reach out, grab you and refuse to let go until the bitter end. She creates the story with such realism, one almost forgets it is a work of fiction. I highly recommend this book to one and all. If you have enjoyed reading any of my books, you will love The Devil Can Wait.

THE DEVIL CAN WAIT, the second installment in Marta Stephens' Sam Harper series is a thrilling read!!

The bodies of teenagers in Chandler, Massachusetts are turning up in the bay and homicide detective Sam Harper has been assigned to the case. What Sam and his partner, Dave Mann, do not know is that not only are those cases related, but there is more to this than a serial killer on the loose. This case reaches from the jungles of South America all the way to Rome and has ties to the Vatican that can change the lives of everyone and not in a good way!

As if the end of the world wasn't complication enough, Sam finds himself trying to out-pace and protect a reporter for the local newspaper, Jenny Blake, who is dead-set on making a name for herself and using this case to do it.

THE DEVIL CAN WAIT is an incredibly entertaining, completely enthralling, and masterfully written novel. Ms. Stephens grabbed my attention from page one and never let it go! This story had me gasping for breath and left me begging for more! I can't wait for the next installment in the Sam Harper series. And if anyone in Hollywood is paying attention, this one would make a great feature film as well!

The Devil Can Wait (A Sam Harper Crime Mystery) is the latest in what looks to be a winning crime mystery series from Marta Stephens. Well written and definitely recommended this complex, yet fast paced thriller mostly follows Detective Sam Harper, first introduced in Silenced Cry, as he attempts to stop what appears to be a serial killer on the loose.

The book opens with the latest in a series of murders of teenage gang leaders in Chandler, Massachusetts, then jumps to Columbia, South America, where a drug smuggler is dumped into the jungle after he steals from his employers. Luckily for him, he ends up not far from where his mother hides in the jungle, suspected of being a witch by local villagers, with a ring that holds her power and which her son longs to possess. The ring, however, is known to others and a series of murders follows it's possession, while the drug smuggler follows it's path to Chandler. As he kills those who stand in his way, we discover that the ring is an essential element in the biblical prophecy of the End of Days and he intends to be the one to fulfill it.

As the story progresses and the bodies pile up, all the threads of the story weave together, linking the ring and the serial killer cases together. As the End of the World prophecy is fulfilled, the true face of evil isn't unveiled until it's nearly too late.