An author's note explains the research she did to uncover as much truth about the actual murder that resulted in the hanging of Tom Dooley in 1868. That story is peopled by unpleasant characters: the sociopathic servant girl who may have instigated the incident, the naive young woman who was the...
Poorly written... What could have been a great story was not done well. There is not one sympathetic character in the entire book. None of the characters change at all throughout the book. There is much repetition which gets tedious. The passages told in the voice of the lawyer are repetitive and...
This is not Sharyn McCrumb's finest work. I have been a fan of her ballad novels for several years, but I can't rate this one very favorably. The good: McCrumb is gifted to understand and convey the history of Appalachia, its people and ways and landscape. This novel does not belie these strength...
I have read most of Sharyn McCrumb's ballad novels. This ballad was made popular by the Kingston Trio and others in the '60s. McCrumb takes the ballad and does an enormous amount of research to come up with a story that could have really happened. She writes with a voice that puts the reader righ...
I've read about 6 Sharyn McCrumb books, and I must say, this is my favorite one. I love history, and my husband's family comes from the part of NC where this is set, so I found it especially interesting. It is definitely more history than fiction, but she writes it very well and she drew me int...
When I saw this book, I knew I had to read it. I am a huge fan of Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad Novels, and I dearly love Appalachian fiction. Although this is a bit different from McCrumb's other novels, it is still a pretty good book. I LOVE that she goes into detail about how the original Appalachia...
'Lovely in Her Bones' is funny and charming. It's also shallow and lightweight, where characterization and depth are always sacrificed for the gag, bit or joke. Not that that is bad, it is what it is; a humorous cozy following an addled, clueless young woman who gets involved in deadly events, ev...
Meh.In a nutshell, this book is about how what goes around comes around; in the context of this novel, if you take someone's land, someone will eventually come and take your land (or the land of your future offspring). McCrumb uses the sad story of the Americas to illustrate a moral point, reachi...
There's a bit less going on in this book than there is in most of the Ballad series.The general theme behind this book is miscarriages of justice - people accused and put to death for a crime they didn't commit but wouldn't confess who did. And considering the theme, it makes sense that there's ...
OK, I think I'm done with Elizabeth. I remember loving this series many years ago, but I am not feeling any depth of character in the rereading.The good: The Highland Games setting. She describes the weirdness and conversation of the "role-playing" people who seem to be obsessed with such events....
Elizabeth MacPherson is a feather-brained shallow woman who nonetheless becomes periphally involved in nearby murders. She is a teacher and is studying forensic anthropology for her graduate degree. However, to her dead bodies are similar to rocks; her real passions are her Scottish boyfriend, Ca...
Elizabeth MacPherson/Dawson cozies confound because they are a little off-kilter. Not quite mysteries, generally speaking, although there usually is a murder, not quite always 'solved', although sometimes someone does solve it - never Elizabeth herself - but the murder is never the focus, and whi...
Um. Well. I guess, in order to keep Amazon happy, as well as fans of this book, I ADORE THIS AUTHOR!But this particular novel makes the sacrifice by the trees to print it a shame. Fortunately, I downloaded it. I think it was a cozy mystery. I think. It was difficult to tell, though, at least fo...
Sharyn McCrumb’s book, The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, fulfilled all my expectations. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and believed it earned its right as a New York Times Notable Book. The different storylines, complex characters, and underlying theme of the story make it truly magnificent. In ...
There is some humor here and a (sort of) murder mystery. There are also a truck load of caricatures and stereotypes, cruel ones at that. In what I assume is an attempt at parody we go to a science Fiction convention where we are all assured that "we" (the readers of the mystery genre I suppose) a...
"Elizabeth has returned from England to Danville, Virginia, on two missions of mercy. She must rescue her brother Bill, a novice lawyer, from charge of fraud and a rather nasty jail term ...and try to reconcile her parents, who are unaccountably ending their marriage of more than twenty-five yea...
I love reading Sharyn McCrumb. She is so funny, while at the same time showing a really deep understanding of people and a keen eye for the small truths of life. In this book she tells several concurrent stories. Elizabeth is in a private mental facility because she is having trouble accepting ...