The leaves are falling, Hallowe'en is approaching and Jack Johnson has found a temporary mooring for his narrowboat on the Staffs & Worcs Canal near Kinver. His on-off relationship with the young army widow, Nina Wilde, is mending slowly after the heartache of their time in Oxford. But a chance encounter and an overheard conversation in a local pub kicks off a perilous sequence of events - some of which are distinctly other-worldly.
Jack reluctantly has his tarot cards read by Heloise, another boater, although he remains more interested in spirits of a different kind. He finds comfort in a bottle of whisky when Nina makes a short trip home to see her mother. Bored and frustrated, he explores his surroundings and discovers an old boat house carved into a cliff. Intriguingly, it is called The Devil's Den.
On her return, Nina is invited to a seance in some underground tunnels and jumps at the possibility of talking to her dead husband. She persuades a highly sceptical Jack to go along. But why is Nick, the boyfriend of Heloise, so implacably opposed to them going? What has he got to hide?
Jack and Nina quickly find out when their illicit seance is rudely interrupted and a night-long ordeal begins. The odds are stacked against Jack and Nina as they are forced to work into the early hours at gunpoint. But there are other forces at work in the subterranean tunnel complex and they play a deciding factor in the outcome.
Devil's Den is a novella and the fourth book in the Johnson & Wilde crime mystery series which follows Jack, Nina and Eddie, their border terrier, across England's canals and rivers on their narrowboat, which is called Jumping Jack Flash. This atmospheric and fast paced tale will delight followers of the series and also be an excellent introduction to new readers.M.F