Originally published September, 2006 

The genteel facade of the southern plantation and it's patrician owners masks a brand of madness and evil that only the American South is capable of producing.   Godfires takes place in a small Virginia town; it's the 70's, but Howell County is stuck in a time warp. No interaction beyond master and servant between Blacks and Whites, there is one traffic light in the town, tobacco is the economic base. When Vincent Farr, local hero and moneybags, is found dead under mysterious circumstances (he wasn't wearing underwear! He had a tattoo scratched into his groin that said "Pull for Service"!) a dark flood of perversity flows over state prosecutor Billy Payne, who is reluctantly investigating the case.    Hoffman has constructed an entertaining Southern Gothic here, with eccentric characters, religious fanaticism, kinky sex, alcoholism, nepotism, greed, racism, and politics. As someone who has lived in small towns in Texas, I could easily imagine the events on every page. What struck home was the myriad divisions (economic, social, racial, religious, gender-based) creating a stifling environment, and how racism can become so banal as to be unrecognizable until called to attention. This book has a lot of truth in its fiction, and reminded me why I will NEVER live in the south again. Good stuff!