Sharyn McCrumb Mystery Collection

Sharyn McCrumb Books and Novels

Sharyn McCrumb is an internationally acclaimed New York Times bestselling author whose work has been honored with all five of the major awards in crime fiction (Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, and Nero)--and two Best Appalachian Novel awards. She is the creator of the Ballad Novel series, which began with If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O. The most recent installment in her satirical mystery series featuring forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson is If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him . . . . She is also the author of the short story collection Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

The PMS Outlaws : An Elizabeth MacPherson Novel by Sharyn McCrumb

Amazon.com
Forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson (Highland Laddie Gone, Lovely in Her Bones) is dealing with death, but not at her usual scientific remove. She's checked herself into Cherry Hill Psychiatric Hospital in an attempt to come to terms with her husband's recent death. Meanwhile her brother Bill, a Virginia lawyer, is attempting to soothe the ire of his partner, A.P. Hill, by purchasing a Tara-like mansion in the hopes of attracting a better class of client. Unfortunately, the mansion comes complete with a resident character, one Jack Dolan, the 90-year-old former owner who refuses to leave. But Hill is uninterested in Bill's nesting efforts. She's intent on understanding a former law-school rival's sudden embarkation on a life of crime. P.J. Purdue has broken a client out of prison and the pair, dubbed "the PMS Outlaws" by the press, are terrorizing all manner of male chauvinists. They seduce the men, convince them to disrobe and submit to handcuffing (with promises of tantalizing escapades to come), and then flee with the dupe's clothes and wallet. It's amusing in the abstract, until Purdue begins using A.P.'s name as an alias and the cops come knocking on her door.
The two narratives both feature deeply cynical women and tedious moralizations on the unfairness of using physical beauty as the standard by which to judge women. Unfortunately, McCrumb's attempts to link them are largely unconvincing. Elizabeth's story merges feebly with Bill's when a fellow patient, a former cop, recognizes a picture of the house and hints at dark secrets in its owner's past. Elizabeth recruits her cousin Geoffrey, the most interesting character in this outing, to unearth what he can about Dolan. Securely ensconced in Bill's new offices as an interior decorator-cum-sleuth, Geoffrey faxes amusingly arch updates to Elizabeth, a welcome distraction for the reader from her grief, which feels clumsy and out of place. The PMS Outlaws flounders in an uncomfortable net of cozy mystery, social commentary, and introspection. Let's hope McCrumb soon returns to the form that captivated readers of her Appalachian novels (She Walks These Hills, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, The Rosewood Casket). When she's on top of her game, she's absolutely unbeatable.

The Ballad of Frankie Silver by Sharyn McCrumb

Amazon.com
Sharyn McCrumb is one of the major wonders of the mystery world. Her books about forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson (including Highland Laddie Gone) are strong, meaty contemporary stories; her comic novels (Bimbos of the Death Sun, Zombies of the Gene Pool) are delightful satires. And then there's the jewel in her crown, the series known as the Ballad novels (including The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter and The Rosewood Casket) where the third-generation Appalachian resident McCrumb sews together what she calls "colored scraps of legends, ballads and fragments of rural life and local tragedy" into books that are like Appalachian quilts. The Ballad of Frankie Silver is the fifth in the Ballad series, and it might well be the best. The blend between the old story and the new is perfect, as Sheriff Spencer Arrowood digs into the 1832 case of the first woman ever hanged for murder in North Carolina--18-year-old Frankie Silver, charged with dismembering her husband--while some disturbing new evidence is surfacing about another, much more recent capital crime. If you have friends who don't read mysteries but liked Cold Mountain, pointing them toward McCrumb might be the start of something big.

If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O by Sharyn McCrumb

Returning to her home town seeking a career comeback, 1960s folksinger Peggy Muryan contacts sheriff Spencer Arrowood after receiving a threatening postcard, and when a Peggy look-alike disappears, Spencer is sure there is a connection.

Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb

The annual science fiction and fantasy convention of Rubicon reaches a peak with the arrival of the disdainful and egotistical author Appin Dungannon, who is murdered at the height of his arrogance.

If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him... by Sharyn McCrumb

Elizabeth MacPherson, a forensic anthropologist turned P.I., must use her forensic expertise and knowledge of poisons when she takes on a challenging case involving the twisted murders of two prominent men.

She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb

Applying her psychic talents to two mysterious cases, policewoman Martha Ayers attempts to settle local superstitions about a two-hundred-year-old ghost while tracking down an escaped prisoner.

Paying the Piper by Sharyn McCrumb

On an isolated Scottish island, nine archaeologists are digging. Eight are digging ruins. One is digging graves. Among the dwindling, yet still diligent diggers is Elizabeth MacPherson, part graduate student, part sleuth. She is the first to suspect something--but can her skills save her life?

The Rosewood Casket by Sharyn McCrumb

Amazon.com
It would have been almost impossible for McCrumb to top her last book, She Walks These Hills, one of the best mysteries of the last decade. But this story of a Southern family haunted by deeds done and undone comes very close: It's full of beautifully-observed details of everyday life which anchor the mystical moments and keep us rooted in reality. This one -- and other McCrumb classics like The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter -- are perfect gifts for readers who haven't yet found a way into the mystery genre.

Highland Laddie Gone by Sharyn McCrumb

Elizabeth MacPherson expects to have fun celebrating her Scottish roots at the Glencoe Mountain Games, but the murder of the widely hated Colin Campbell dampens her enthusiasm and a second murder forces her to step in to solve the case.

Missing Susan by Sharyn McCrumb

When a British tour guide accepts money to kill a woman, sleuth Elizabeth MacPherson suspects something is wrong and sets out to foil the plot.

MacPherson's Lament by Sharyn McCrumb

In the sequel to Missing Susan, Elizabeth MacPherson returns from England just in time to become involved in a case involving stolen Confederate gold.

Sick of Shadows by Sharyn McCrumb

A new repackaging program for the Edgar Award-winning author of the Elizabeth MacPherson mysteries begins wit the acclaimed first novel in the series. Who murdered bride-to-be Eileen Chandler on the eve of her wedding? Her cousin Elizabeth intends to find out--and plunges into the Chandler household's hotbed of Southern eccentricity in search of a cunning killer.

Lovely in Her Bones by Sharyn McCrumb

When anthropology students Elizabeth MacPherson and her boyfriend, Milo, head for an archaeological dig at an Indian burial ground in the Appalachians, all they expect to unearth are interesting artifacts--not a killer with a penchant for using a tomahawk!

Zombies of the Gene Pool by Sharyn McCrumb

En route to a science-fiction convention in the 1950s, eight young men bury a time capsule containing short stories and cultural relics, but decades later, after a few of them become famous, the others scramble to dig it up again.

The Windsor Knot by Sharyn McCrumb

The fifth comedy-tinged thriller in the critically acclaimed Elizabeth MacPherson mystery series. In between planning a formal wedding and completing her doctoral research, Elizabeth investigates the death of a man who reportedly died five years before--and his widow has an urn of ashes to prove it!

Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Sharyn McCrumb

Amazon.com
"I come from a race of stortytellers," writes Sharyn McCrumb in her introduction to the first complete collection of her wonderfully rich and mordant short stories. "My father's family--the Arrowoods and the McCourys--settled in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina when the wilderness was still Indian country." Like McCrumb's fine novels (She Walks These Hills and a dozen others), these 24 stories link the mysteries of the past with life in present-day Appalachia, using chains of words stronger than any steel.

OxfordBooks.com / Oxford, MS

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