More intertwined tales in another in the Appalachian ballad series, Nora Bonesteel is present with her second sight to lead Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and Laura Bruce to the solution of a multiple murder.

This book is quite different from most mysteries in that the perpetrator of the crime is known right from the beginning. But what the book is about is about a family in trouble, and we watch the steady decline throughout the book. All of the major occurences (and believe me there are a lot of them) are connected with an old lady soothsayer's visions. There is plenty of suspense throughout the whole book, and it led me on and kept me engrossed until the catastrophic ending. Ms. McCrumb is a formidable author, and this book (the second in her Appalachian series) is complex, absorbing and quite magical. ( )

I enjoyed this book far more than I expected. I had read McCrumb's first book (Bimbos of the Death Sun), which I thought was drivel (despite winning one of the major Mystery awards), and was done with her, but found the book in my possession. Took awhile to get to. Anyway, this book was entirely different in tone. It's not a traditional mystery in the sense of crime committed with dogged investigation by grizzled detective/obsessive spare-time other-interested-party. The story begins with the introduction of Laura Bruce, new wife of the pastor of Hamelin, TN, being called to the scene of a grisly murder. A mother and father and youngest son have been shot and killed by the oldest son, who then killed himself. Two other siblings have been left behind, and Laura Bruce has been called to tend to them. The murder underlies everything else, but the book continues with several additional tragic and interrelated developments in the town until the truth behind the initial tragedy is revealed. This book is part of the "Ballad" series by Ms. McCrumb, and beautifully details the traditions and brink-of-poverty lifestyle experienced by so many in the Tennessee backhills. The book is very well written and intricately plotted and detailed, and I will look for additional books by Ms. McCrumb. ( )

Another mystery set in the Appalachian mountains (at least that's where I remember them being set; it's somewhere rural like that, anyway). A good mystery with interesting characters, although not stellar. ( )