Showing results by author "Sharyn McCrumb" in All Categories

In Depression-era Appalachia, a desperate sheriff’s widow takes on her late husband’s job and discovers that a prayer the devil answers comes at a terrible price. The year is 1936 and society provides no safety net for newly widowed Ellie Robbins, a woman in a small mountain town who...

When Rowan Rover is offered $50,000 to murder a woman on his September Mystery Tour, he is surprised to find himself accepting the offer. The thought of committing murder chills him, until he meets the beautiful Susan Cohen. After days of listening to her nonstop chatter, with insults tossed in every direction, Rowan reaches a startling conclusion: she is someone he would like to kill.

Randall Stargill is dying. As his four sons gather to build his coffin, a local wise woman arrives with a small box that must be buried with the old man. In it are the fragile bones of a child and the memories of an ancient crime. Already faced with decisions about what to do with their father’s farm, his sons are now drawn into a hazardous conflict between families who would die for their land and those who do not value the rich tradition of the region. As the Stargills attempt to identify the child, McCrumb weaves mystical Indian legends and Daniel Boone’s sweeping visions of his beloved mountains into the investigation.

Written in grease pencil on a tourist postcard, the lyrics are winsome and innocent. But for famous folk singer Peggy Muryan, who has moved recently to the rural community of Hamelin, Tennessee, they are a chilling reminder of a troubled moment in her past.

The Kingston Trio’s folk song “Tom Dooley” tells the story of the murder of Laura Foster, a simple country girl involved with returning Confederate soldier Tom Dula. But Tom was also engaged in a passionate affair with his childhood sweetheart, the beautiful - and married - Ann Melton. One May morning in 1866, Laura Foster stole her father’s horse and left home, telling a neighbor that she was eloping to Tennessee. Three months later, her body was found in a shallow grave only a few hundred yards from where she was last seen.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Prayers the Devil Answers and The Ballad of Tom Dooley, a “fascinating historical fiction novel you won’t be able to put down” (Bustle) based on one of the strangest murder trials in American history—the case of the Greenbrier Ghost. Lakin...

If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him draws together the stories of two women, unrelated except for a common crime: both are charged with killing their husbands. As their tales of abandonment and abuse unfold, the forensic anthropologist must sift through decades of information while juggling evidence, hearsay, and history. Before she realizes it, MacPherson is involved in a battle of the sexes that hits very close to home. Right up until the final verdict, this moving adventure will keep you guessing the outcome and cheering for the spirited investigator.

In 1832, 18-year-old Frankie Silver was charged with murdering her young husband. In 1833, she became the first woman in the state of North Carolina to be hanged for murder. But was she guilty? More than 100 years later, Tennessee sheriff Spencer Arrowood is determined to reveal the truth behind this unanswered question. A spellbinding story that sweeps from the drawing rooms of early aristocracy to the ruins of a one-room cabin deep in the Appalachian wilderness, The Ballad of Frankie Silver flawlessly weaves past and present, truth and fiction, folklore and legend.

In MacPherson's Lament, family troubles in Virginia spin out of control, forcing Elizabeth to leave her adopted Scotland to sort out the multiplying problems. Struggling to start a new law practice in Danville, Virginia, Bill MacPherson will handle almost any case, even his parents' divorce. But when he takes on a realtor's job - selling an antebellum mansion for eight elderly daughters of Confederate veterans - he only earns criminal charges. As Elizabeth confronts her panicked sibling, she wonders if even she can untangle this web of deceit and keep her brother out of prison.

Sharyn McCrumb is the New York Times best-selling author of the Ballad novels, which celebrate the rich history of Appalachia. An elegant saga set against the American Revolution, King' s Mountain features John Sevier and his legendary Carolina Overmountain Men, who find themselves defending their families and farms against the troops of a haughty British major.

In her third outing as amateur sleuth, Elizabeth MacPherson has the chance to revel in the rites of the old country at the annual Glencoe Mountain Games. But the innocent ethnic fair is cursed when the loathed Colin Campbell is found murdered. When a second reveler is found dead, Elizabeth lays to hunt and untangles all....

If forensic anthropologist and amateur sleuth Elizabeth MacPherson is to have tea with the queen of England, she has to get married first. And in the space of five weeks, she plans to do just that. When an old neighbor receives word that her husband has died again, it's up to Elizabeth to determine just whose ashes the double widow has been cursing at all these years.

Feast on this delectable collection of "whodunits" from some of the mystery world's most diabolical chefs. Whet your appetite with Sara Paretsky's "Skin Deep," in which fan-favorite Chicago private investigator, V.I. "Vic" Warshawski, takes on a chi-chi salon after one of its clients turns up dead.

Intrigue, crime, and murder create suspense in this edge-of-your-seat collection of cat mystery stories whose plots are all centered on a beloved feline, written by some of the finest, best-selling mystery writers of all time.

Fan favorite Sharyn McCrumb teams with professional race car driver Adam Edwards for this high-speed tale of horsepower and high jinks. When hotshot stock car driver Camber Berkley crashes his ride on a winding mountain road, the wreckage interrupts the funeral of a wealthy racing fan. The folks of Judas Grove, Tennessee, give Camber a choice. He can either spend three months in the slammer, or he can train the local ministers as they prepare for a lucrative two-million-dollar race.

In 1934 all the national publications sent their star reporters to remote Virginia to cover the trial of Erma Morton: a beautiful 21-year-old mountain girl with a teaching degree, accused of murdering her father – a drunken tyrant of a man.

Miriam lunched weekly with two friends. She needed to act normal today. She wanted to handle her issues with Andrew on her own. She was making a salad for him that night. The ingredients would settle the issue. What power can a salad have?

Best-selling author Sharyn McCrumb returns to the world of NASCAR with Once Around the Track.When a team of female investors decides to sponsor a car for the female equivalent of Viagra, they shake up the racing world. Badger Jenkins, a sexy driver past his racing prime, is recruited by the investors and their all-girl pit crew to drive the new car. But every woman has a different plan to get the car (and herself ) into the fast lane.

If you believe in the feline mystique, this anthology will have you purring. Intrigue, murder, and a not-so-cuddly kitty are at the center of these 9 stories by some of the finest, best selling mystery writers of all time. Curl up with Larry Segriff's No Hard Feelings read by Jamie Farr, Sharyn McCrumb's Nine Lives to Live read by Mary Jo Catlett, Joan Hess's The Maggody Files: Hillbilly Cat read by Jean Smart, Clark Howard's Animals read by David Birney, Edward D. Hoch's The Theft of the Mafia Cat read by Richard Gilliland, J.A. Jance's The Duel read by Eleanor Mondale, Ellery Queen's The Adventures of the Seven Black Cats read by Mike Walker, Janwillem van de Wetering's A Great Sight read by Mason Adams, and Carole Nelson Douglas's Coyote Peyote read by David Ackroyd.