The Devil's Punchbowl
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.
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Greg Iles
Greg Iles was born in Germany in 1960, where his father ran the US Embassy Medical Clinic during the height of the Cold War. His mother was raised on a subsistence farm in Louisiana and began picking cotton at the age of three. Iles spent his youth in Natchez, Mississippi, and graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1983. While attending Ole Miss, Greg lived in the cabin where William Faulkner and his brothers listened to countless stories told by “Mammy Callie,” their beloved nanny, who had been born enslaved.
Iles wrote his first novel in 1993, a thriller about Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess, which became the first of seventeen New York Times bestsellers. Primarily set in the Deep South, his later novels have been made into films, translated into more than twenty languages, and published in more than thirty-five countries worldwide. His new novel will continue the story of Penn Cage, after the epic trilogy that ended with New York Times #1 bestseller Mississippi Blood.
Iles is a member of the legendary lit-rock group “The Rock Bottom Remainders.” Like bandmate Stephen King, Greg returned to the musical stage after recovering from his injuries, and joined the band for their "final" two shows in Los Angeles in 2012. A nonfiction memoir by the band, titled Hard Listening, was published in 2018, but by then the band had begun playing shows again. In 2020 they released a social-distancing video produced by Greg and his son Mark, called "DON'T Stand By Me!" They just don't know when to quit.
Iles passed away from a 29-year battle with Mulitple Myeloma on August 15, 2025. He lived in Natchez, Mississippi with his wife Caroline and had four children.
Penn Cage
Penn Cage consists of seven books and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
