The Burn Palace

Brewster, RI, is a small town in a small state, and seems an unlikely place for drama. But this is New England, and how better to stir hysteria and cover up a crime ring than to invoke witchcraft? Poet and novelist Dobyns performs just this bit of magic in his first novel since 1999's Boy in the Water. State trooper Woody Potter is called to Brewster when a baby disappears from the hospital, with a snake left in its bassinet instead. As Halloween approaches, the baby snatching turns out to be the first in a string of strange occurrences in town, including satanic ceremonies, coyotes in the streets, and murder. The mayhem borders on complete chaos until Woody, his partner Bobby, and other state troopers start to put the pieces together and discover the real-world sources of the related crimes.