The Unquiet Grave
Sharyn McCrumb
Trade Paper $16
ebook $11.99

I’ve been a fan of Sharyn McCrumb ever since I read Bimbos of the Death Sun, a satirical mystery about a murder at a science fiction convention, back in graduate school. To put some context to how highly I regard her work, Ms. McCrumb is one of the few living authors whose books I still buy in hardcover when a new one comes out.  (Jack McDevitt and Larry Niven are two others.)

She’d been writing the Elizabeth MacPherson mystery series at the time and had just published the first of what would become known as the Ballad books.  That would be If Ever I Return, My Pretty Peggy-O.  It was a traditional mystery set in the Appalachians.  The next book in the series, The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, wasn’t.  The book set the tone for what would become the Ballad series.  The next book, She Walks These Hills, knocked my socks off, and I’ve been reading the Ballad books ever since. Continue reading →