The Devil's Punchbowl A Novel

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Penn Cage series and the Natchez Burning trilogy comes “a steamy, swampy tale of international nastiness” (Kirkus Reviews) in an electrifying thriller that reveals a world of depravity, sex, violence, and corruption in a Southern town.

Penn Cage was elected mayor of Natchez, Mississippi—the hometown he returned to after the death of his wife—on a tide of support for change. But two years into his term, casino gambling has proved a sure bet for bringing in new jobs and fresh money to this fading jewel of the Old South. But deep inside the Magnolia Queen, a fantastical repurposed steamboat, a depraved hidden world draws high-stakes players with money to burn on their unquenchable taste for blood sport and the dark vices that go with it.

When a childhood friend hands him blood-chilling evidence, Penn must beat the odds tracking a sophisticated killer who counters his every move, placing those nearest to him—including his young daughter, his renowned physician father, and a lover from the past—in grave danger, and all at the risk of jeopardizing forever the town he loves.

With his gift for crafting “a keep-you-engaged-to-the-very-last-page thriller” (USA TODAY) at full throttle, Greg Iles brings back Penn Cage—the sharply honed, unforgettable hero from his most popular novels—in this electrifying suspense masterpiece.

Greg Iles was born in 1960 in Germany, where his father ran the US Embassy medical clinic during the height of the Cold War. After graduating from the University of Mississippi in 1983, he performed for several years with the rock band Frankly Scarlet and is a member of the lit-rock group The Rock Bottom Remainders. He is the author of sixteen New York Times bestselling novels and known for his Penn Cage series, the latest of which is Southern Man. He lives in Natchez, Mississippi.