Butterfly Sunday

I really enjoyed the powerful imagery used by Hill to weave his story. I rate this novel second only to The Salvation Peddler by Jerry Marcus. Both authors know the art of using just the right amount of sex and revenge to create tense and thrilling mysteries. I would like to see both stories on the screen!

I cannot review your books in a professional manner, they are great. I am in the middle of Sacred Dust right now, and can't decide which I like better - just please -write another! I haven't been gripped by a book in a long time till I read Butterfly Sunday. Read it in 8 hours.

Say no more. This book was absolutely one of the best I've read this year. Butterfly Sunday tells the story of Leona, a young woman who marries Averil Sayers after she is jilted with child by a boyfriend who rather marry money. The baby she gives birth too is dead, that's what she's been told by her righteous husband. When she finds out that the baby wasn't stillborn but died at the hands of her husband, she begins the task of her redemption. She plans to kill Averil slowly with rat poisoning, first in dinner, then in the chocolate cake. The task is not easy, she is a good girl after all. Killing someone is not what she is bred to do. The irony of the entire story is that she is a "good girl" and in the end she is vindicated. A love story, a suspense, and a murder mystery all in one. Great storytelling!! 10 STARS

David Hill is such a great novelist. This book is a masterfully told web of love, passion, deceit, murder, and adultery adorned with a gifted storytellers instinct for regional storytelling. Its non-linear approach keeps the reader on a need to know basis that keeps him guessing and reguessing on who did what to who.

In Orpheus, Mississippi, Leona Sayres mourns the loss of her newborn who died in a mysterious manner. While slowly physically healing, Leona flashes back on her life before concluding that the devil, her spouse, the morally correct Reverend Averill Sayres killed her daughter. As she loses her mind to her grief, Leona vows to send her husband on a one way ticket to the brimstone that he always sensually preached his patrons will one day reside in if they failed to change. She adds rat poisoning as a flavoring to his meals.When Averill dies, many of the townsfolk sing Hallelujah in private. However, many females who found solace in his arms weep at his death even as they cheer the demise of the serpent. Sheriff Blue Hudson investigates the death of the local preacher and his infant. However, he makes the classic mistake of falling in love with the prime suspect, Leona.BUTTERFLY SUNDAY is a powerful regional mystery that is quite good because of the depth to the key players. Readers feel for Leona's loss, comprehend (through flashbacks) what drove Averill, and even know why the sheriff's name is apropos. The mystery is entertaining, but it is the insight into the Mississippi mud that turns this gothic-like novel into a winner. David Hill is a talent worth reading and many of this novel's audience will wisely seek out his previous story, the fabulous SACRED DUST.Harriet Klausner