The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb

First Line: The place was as quiet as it ever got in the hours around midnight, with only occasional screams or sobs from the cells down the corridor to disturb his contemplation.

Following a suicide attempt, attorney James P.D. Gardner finds himself under the care of Dr. James Boozer in a segregated insane asylum in Lakin, West Virginia. It's 1930, and Boozer is eager to try the new talk therapy. It takes quite a bit of work for his elderly patient to open up, but when he does, Gardner tells of his most memorable case-- one in which he helped to defend a white man on trial for the murder of his young bride, a case the prosecution based on the testimony of a ghost.

In 1897, spoiled and pretty Zona Heaster went against her mother's advice and married Erasmus "Trout" Shue, a handsome blacksmith new to the county. Two months later, Zona is dead. A month after her funeral, her mother is determined to get justice for her daughter, so she goes to the county prosecutor and tells him that Zona's ghost appeared to her, saying that she'd been murdered.

Sharyn McCrumb is a master at finding strange-but-true bits of history that have taken place somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains and then weaving a mesmerizing tale around them. You can't get much stranger than a murder trial based on the testimony of a ghost, and that's a fact.

McCrumb tells her tale in a two-pronged approach. One storyline follows Gardner in the insane asylum in 1930. Gardner, the first black attorney to practice law in nineteenth-century West Virginia, is such a calm, measured, educated voice of reason that you'd never dream he could have been associated with such a trial-- or be a patient in an insane asylum.

The second storyline follows Mary Jane Heaster, first as she worries about her headstrong daughter's extremely poor life choices, and then as she fights to make "Trout" Shue pay for her daughter's death. There's very little doubt that Shue did indeed murder Zona, but there's no proof that would be admissible in a court of law. Make that a court of law in the twenty-first century. So-- here you have the sane man in the asylum and the possibly insane woman free to bend an entire courtroom to her will. Mary Jane Heaster is a force of nature.

The story is a good one, and the voices of Mary Jane and Gardner come shining through. Through them, you really get a feel for how people lived and thought back then. I've long been an ardent fan of McCrumb's Ballad novels; in particular, the ones featuring Nora Bonesteel and Spencer Arrowood are lyrical and... marvelous. Although The Unquiet Grave is listed in some places as a Ballad novel, that's simply a matter of geography-- Ballad novels take place in the Appalachians. Regardless of designation, this is not one of McCrumb's better books. The pace drags, but even worse, there is no spark, no heart to the story she tells. If you want vintage Ballad, look for The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, She Walks These Hills or The Rosewood Casket. That's where you'll find gorgeous writing and heart and soul.

The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb

ISBN: 9781476772875

Atria Books © 2017

Hardcover, 368 pages

Historical Fiction, Standalone

Rating: C

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen. 

Lone Wolf by Sara Driscoll

First Line: The world whipped by in a blur of color.

As part of the FBI's elite K-9 unit, Meg and Hawk can find themselves anywhere at a moment's notice. Hawk is a pro at sniffing out bodies-- alive or dead-- and he and Meg are certainly put to the test when a bomb rips apart a government building on the National Mall in Washington, DC. 

After working non-stop to locate and save those buried in the rubble, Meg and Hawk are being hailed as heroes, but they cannot rest on their laurels. The bomber is still at large, more bombs are detonated, and the body count is rising. The partners are now part of a task force dedicated to stopping the killer, but it's going to take all their wits and survival skills to bring this reign of terror to an end.

We're beginning to see an upsurge in mysteries featuring working dogs, and I'm glad. Whether they're police dogs, war dogs, or search and rescue, dogs bring a whole new dynamic to crime-solving duos. Having read some excellent mysteries featuring human/canine teams (from authors such as Margaret Mizushima, Robert Crais, and James Rollins) I eagerly picked up Sara Driscoll's Lone Wolf. 

"Sara Driscoll" is actually the writing team of Jen Danna and Ann Vanderlaan, and Lone Wolf is the first book in the FBI K-9 series. The two have set up quite a good cast: Meg and her canine partner Hawk, Meg's sister Cara, Brian and his canine partner Lacey, and two men providing a bit of romantic interest, Clay McCord and Todd Webb. There is some interesting interplay between these people, and I especially liked the fact that Meg is the sort of character who's willing to go above and beyond the call as well as think outside the box. Also-- wonder of wonders-- the bosses in Meg's division are good, something that seldom seems to happen in crime fiction.

The final action scene is a good one, but I felt there were a couple of hiccups in the book. The pace is uneven, and there are some awkward bits where we're allowed inside the mind of the bomber only to have his thoughts interpreted by the good guys in the next chapter. This is not only needless, it slows down the action. Perhaps the biggest hiccup for me was the dogs themselves.  There wasn't enough "canine presence" to suit me during the actual manhunt. Yes, we get to "interact" with Hawk and Lacey in the dog park, and the authors use K-9 search terminology as chapter headings, but I'd really like to see more of the dogs working the actual case.  I'm very interested in seeing what happens in the second book in the series.
      

Lone Wolf by Sara Driscoll

eISBN: 9781496704429

Kensington Books © 2016

eBook, 304 pages

Police Procedural, #1 FBI K-9 mystery

Rating: B-

Source: Net Galley   


 

The Contrary Blues by John Billheimer

Title: The Contrary Blues
Author: John Billheimer
ISBN: 9781891852251
Publisher: Quarrier Press, 2002
Paperback, 278 pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth, #1 Owen Allison mystery
Rating: A
Source: Purchased from Alibris.

First Line: "I didn't reckon on no killing."

When National Department of Transportation investigator Owen Allison goes to Contrary, West Virginia, to complete an unfinished audit, he finds that an extra zero on a federal grant application has given the small, struggling mining town the extra funds it needs to keep vital services in place.

Everyone in town government doesn't consider keeping the money and using it for good to be fraud or cheating. In fact, the only person who seems to be unhappy with the current situation is a disabled citizen, Hatfield McCoy, who keeps firing off hate mail to Washington, D.C. about the town's bus service. When McCoy turns up dead, everyone's favorite suspect seems to be Allison, and he knows he has to work fast to clear his name. There's more in Contrary that's not adding up than just that extra zero.

I loved the quiet humor in this book, the delightful duplicity of many of the characters, and the twisty plot that resembles the switchbacks on a narrow mountain road. However, The Contrary Blues isn't just about cornpone humor and corrupt government officials. There are some strong subplots, such as the one concerning a coal miner with black lung who's desperately trying to keep his son above ground and away from mining. Billheimer's humor will entertain you, his plot will give your brain cells a workout, and your heart will be touched.

I've set a goal for myself to read mysteries set in each of the fifty states, and this is what led me to John Billheimer and The Contrary Blues of West Virginia. I'm glad I turned down this road because I've just found another excellent mystery series with which to spend some quality time.

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