I haven’t taken up too many Goodreads challenges, but one that I did tackle was to find and read a detective story set in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. (The latter was easy since George Pelecanos sets his novels in DC.)

I didn’t get too far in the challenge — or the alphabet — but I was intrigued by Debra Webb’s Devlin & Falco novels, which are set in Alabama. Kerri Devlin is a veteran Birmingham detective partnered with Luke Falco, who spent years undercover in Mobile. Their first case unfolds in Webb’s 2020 novel Trust No One.

While only two other books feature the duo, Webb has written 175 novels, including a number of romances. Since the 1990s, she’s cranked out two or three books per year. Clearly, she loves telling stories.

Webb was born in Alabama and grew up on a farm there, so it’s the place she knows best. Her descriptions of Birmingham seem to be authentic — though, having never been there, I can’t personally vouch for their veracity — and the Devlin & Falco series has become one of her most popular.

Not surprisingly, the first installment could’ve been much tighter, but the plot and the color are compelling enough to keep you turning pages. It starts out with a double homicide and involves a missing pregnant woman, a surprise older sister, lawyers, private detectives, and local politicians who appear to be as corrupt as any.

The characters evolve in the second book, Gone Too Far, and the third, Can’t Go Back. So far for me, though, it’s the Southern atmosphere that’s most absorbing. Although Webb has lived in several places and sets her novels all over the country, it’s clear that Alabama is where she’s most at home.

Darrell Delamaide is a journalist and author in Washinton, DC, who has written four books, including two novels.