Fri 7 May 2010
Reviewed by Marvin Lachman: SHARYN McCRUMB – Lovely in Her Bones.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[2] Comments
by Marvin Lachman
SHARYN McCRUMB – Lovely in Her Bones. Avon, paperback original, 1985; Ballantine, pb, 1990.
As Bill Crider said on a panel in Omaha [Mayhem in the Midlands], it is hard nowadays to find an American mystery that is not a “Regional.” However, Sharyn McCrumb, who was on his panel, writes mysteries about Appalachia that seem more authentically regional than most.
Her second mystery, Lovely in Her Bones, is about a “dig” on the Virginia-Tennessee border, designed to prove tribal status for the Cullowhees, an isolated group who claim they’re Native Americans. Elizabeth MacPherson is along to solve the inevitable murder, though she’s just beginning to get interested in forensic anthropology.
Right now, she’s more interested In Milo Gordon, one of the group’s leaders. There are also computer sabotage and violent lover’s quarrels. As Elizabeth says, “Exhuming bodies is getting to be the dullest part of the project.”
I like McCrumb’s sense of humor and some of the characters she creates, e.g., the obnoxious Victor, who “hijacks a conversation,” and the hilariously inept Deputy Coltsfoot. I just wish the balance in her books, and in so many other mysteries, hadn’t tipped so far away from the mystery plot, clues and fair play resolution.
May 7th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
I wonder how many readers of this blog will disagree with Marv’s last statement.
— Steve
May 7th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
I certainly can’t disagree with Marv. It seems as if recently the only thing not in a mystery is an actual mystery with a solution in many series. The writing and even characterization may be a bit better than it once was, but the things that first drew me to reading mysteries is often the least important element of the plot.
Nowadays when you do get an actual mystery and fair play resolution you’re so grateful you tend to overlook any other flaws, but as long as sales for books like that remain solid we aren’t likely to see a change anytime soon.
And in all honesty I’m not sure most of the fans want that fair play solution and puzzling mystery. I think they much prefer the atmosphere and some quirk characters over the mystery element.