Judas Burning [Hardcover]

Carolyn Haines (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2005

Dixon Sinclair arrives in Jexville, Mississippi, the town of her forebears, to find solace, stop drinking, and rebuild her life after her father’s murder. As the new publisher of the weekly newspaper and a second-generation journalist, she’s determined to ignite the political will of the townspeople and expose the corruption of the old guard. She forms an uneasy partnership with Sheriff J.D. Horton, another prodigal son returned hoping to find peace and a sense of fulfillment by keeping his town safe. Then two teenage girls disappear from a sandbar on the swift-moving Pascagoula River, and fears surface that evil lurks in the depths of the swampland—an evil consumed with rage against betrayal and an insatiable desire for vengeance. Suspicions fall on a mysterious transient, a young man running from a violent past in the Catholic Church of Mexico. Yet J.D. and Dixon discover that many there in Jexville have been betrayed, innocents suffering the sins of the fathers. Now they must find out who is willing to kill for revenge.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Delta mystery writer Haines returns to Jexville, Miss. (Touched), for the adventures of Dixon Sinclair, a big-city reporter who moves to the small town to stop drinking and start publishing a local weekly. Haunted by doubts about the guilt of the man convicted of killing her father, Dixon stands up to Big Jim Welford of the local board of ed, pursues the teacher he fires then reinstates in secret, photographs a defiled statue of the Virgin Mary, aids Sheriff J.D. Horton in a search for two missing teenagers and still has time for lunch at the diner with the town's nicest woman (a Methodist minister) and its richest (the bank president's wife). Haines's portraits of a Mexican immigrant's religious turmoil and the relationship between the bank president's daughter and her reclusive fisherman lover are complex and touching; the bank president and his wife seem like caricatures in comparison. Haines builds suspense with images of violent crime and the thrill of breaking news, then undermines it by chasing too many leads, stopping only for mind-numbing recaps of suspects and clues. Her uneven storytelling is mitigated, though, by a resilient, likable heroine. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Haines, author of the Sarah Booth Delaney series, also set in the Mississippi Delta, turns here to journalist Dixon Sinclair. Returning to her mother's birthplace, Jexville, to live in the family house, Dixon pours her life savings into buying the Independent, Jexville's weekly newspaper. She hopes to carry on the work of her father, a newspaper publisher murdered in a bomb blast, if she can overcome various ghosts from her past and a drinking problem that is definitely in the present. When two teenage girls disappear and a statue of the Virgin Mary is mutilated, Dixon covers the story, which is complicated further when an odd religious shrine is found in the swamp, along with the severely mutilated body of one of the girls. Haines seamlessly switches points of view among Dixon, the sheriff, and swamp denizen Eustace, all different on the surface but alike in their struggle with self-doubt. With vivid imagery and subtle character development, Haines crafts a story as rich as a thick slice of Mississippi mud pie. But there's nothing sweet about what's happening in Jexville. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 396 pages
• Publisher: River City Publishing (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579660614
• ISBN-13: 978-1579660611
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,590,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carolyn Haines is the author of eighteen novels, including the acclaimed Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series. She was honored with the prestigious 2009 Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence. Haines was also 2010 recipient of the Harper Lee Award. Born and raised in Mississippi, she now lives in Alabama on a farm with more dogs, cats, and horses than she can possibly keep track of!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It will keep you up all night!, December 5, 2005

By 

M. Ellis "magnoliamansions" (Gulf Coast, Alabama) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Judas Burning (Hardcover)

Once again Carolyn Haines has written about her native Mississippi and the people who live in that beautiful and mystical state. Things happen and lives are changed in Jexville, far from the "maddening crowd" of Atlanta traffic and Memphis' Beale Street. The nearby river looks quiet and peaceful, but there are dark and angry currents and ghastly events take place. Two teen age girls disappear, a statue of the Virgin Mary is vandalized, and tension rises even higher when Dixon Sinclair, a journalist who has returned to her old home town, and the local sheriff try to unravel the mysteries. The population of Jexville is not large, but the characters who live there are and the plot will keep the reader on the edge of the page until the very end. After that, perhaps one could sit by the dark and swirling river and sip some sweet tea, but not quietly as this story will be remembered for a long time..

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read, September 9, 2006

By 

Rebecca N. Stowe "Rebecca Stowe" (Lucedale, MS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Judas Burning (Hardcover)

One of my favorite Carolyn Haines books. Judas burning is a gripping tale set in the backwoods of south Mississippi with an array of eccentric characters, realistic geographic descriptions and plenty of twists.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superbly crafted novel about a woman's return to her home town in an attempt to uncover the murderer of her late father, April 8, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Judas Burning (Hardcover)

Judas Burning by Carolyn Haines is a superbly crafted novel about a woman's return to her home town in an attempt to uncover the murderer of her late father, and with hope find contentment in the small-town atmosphere. As readers will discover, that are some strange occurrences in the river nearby, leading locals to believe a great evil lurks in the bed of the river, as well as a much deeper case for main character Dixon Sinclair and her moderate partner and town Sheriff, J.D. Horton. Judas Burning is very highly recommended and engaging reading, and to be given especially high praise for the gripping and perpetually intriguing tale it tells.