''An Occasional Hell'' is a

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...

by the American writer Randall Silvis. Set in 1990s in the lower Monongahela River Valley below

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, it tells the story of Ernest DeWalt, a former Chicago private investigator and successful novelist who is now a college professor. DeWalt's new life is interrupted when a philandering colleague, Alex Catanzaro, is killed in a farmland trysting place and his widow asks the former PI for help. It was made into a film starring

Tom Berenger Tom Berenger (born Thomas Michael Moore; May 31, 1949) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes in ''Platoon'' (1986). He is also known for playing ...

in 1996.

References

1993 American novels American crime novels Novels set in Pennsylvania Permanent Press (publisher) books {{1990s-crime-novel-stub