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Summary: It Feels Like Home
Review: For someone with a Scots-Irish, Appalachian, East TN. heritage who is at the moment, displaced in FL., this book is like coming home. McCrumb knows what it feels like to be a part of those mountain communities, the spirit and prejudices, the superstitions and the faith. This book is more than a murder mystery, it is an insiders look at what makes these regional communities function and what makes them unforgettable. This has all the warmth and authenticity that Fraiser's *Cold Mountain* lacked. McCrumb and fellow writer, Lee Smith, truly understand and recapture the Appalachian spirit.
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Summary: Odd
Review: I found "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" to have too many subplots. I think Sharyn could have been more detailed if she had limited her focus to 1-2 storylines. I never understood her point in having Laura Bruce be the Underhill children's guardian when she never visited them. The same with the frequent reference to the sheriff visiting the children but never did. I have read "The Ballad of Frankie Silver" and "She Walks These Hills" and they were wonderful. I was a little disappointed with this book.
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Summary: my first Sharyn McCrumb experience will likely lead to more
Review: I had no idea what to expect from this book. I ended up being very pleasantly surprised. McCrumb clearly knows the Tennessee/North Carolina landscape which graces The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. Her literary paints and brushes are all in very good working order. Most of the characters are very well developed. However, the only real flaw with this book is that there are so many characters and sub-plots that depth sometimes has to be sacrificed. John Connolly's Every Dead Thing had the same hinderance. That being said, I must also say that both authors overcame that one shortcoming with flying colors. This book is very well-written. It's nice to see the female characters in a mystery novel receiving most of the depth. Very refreshing. Among the wide variety of subjects tackled in McCrumb's novel are homicide, suicide, poverty, cancer, environmentalism, Vietnam war hauntings, pregnancy and, for some strange reason, The Judds. It's a well-planned mystery that has the necessary ingredient for any great tale of the genre...the pace quickens drastically towards the end. You can't put it down once you know the answers are stepping from out of the shadows. This book is also genuinely touching in some parts. The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter is a well-crafted book that certainly deserves to be read and enjoyed. I don't want to give anything away...so I won't. That is all.
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Summary: Good book!
Review: I LIKED THE BOOK. MCCRUMB HAS WONDERFUL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, WITHOUT MAKING THE TYPICAL "HILLBILLY" STEROTYPES. HER DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MOUNTAINS MAKE ME WANT TO SCHEDULE MY NEXT VACATION IN THE AREA.--UNIT 800,RAPID CITY SD
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Summary: Great book with wonderful characters
Review: I loved this book, especially because i live very close to her setting. Her depiction of the mountain people is very accurate and colorful, and the storyline was a real page turner. excellent!
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Summary: Enthralling Murder-Mystery
Review: I picked up this book reluctantly, because I have always found mysteries to be stale and boring. But this book has a way of pulling you in that you never want to get back out. It starts out that this big family gets murdered, all but two, and they know that one of the brothers did it and committed suicide when he was done. The reluctant wife of the minister is sent to deal with the survivors. The story goes from there, hopping from one person's point of view to another's, with many different little side-stories inter-twining all into one big picture. The characters are beautifully and sadly drawn, and all of the different stories come together with such preciseness that the reader is amazed. A definite must read.
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Summary: Enthralling Murder-Mystery
Review: I picked up this book reluctantly, because I have always found mysteries to be stale and boring. But this book has a way of pulling you in that you never want to get back out. It starts out that this big family gets murdered, all but two, and they know that one of the brothers did it and committed suicide when he was done. The reluctant wife of the minister is sent to deal with the survivors. The story goes from there, hopping from one person's point of view to another's, with many different little side-stories inter-twining all into one big picture. The characters are beautifully and sadly drawn, and all of the different stories come together with such preciseness that the reader is amazed. A definite must read.
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Summary: A great find!
Review: I read the first book in this series, Pretty Peggy-O and read this one right after. This book still seemed to have the author finding her way as a writer, but it was better than the first. And that's not to say I didn't like the first, I did. I liked this one better, but I think it still earns a 4. I am on to the next books in the series and I'm really excited, I think McCrumb has great potential as a writer. She creates stories and characters that you just seem to become wrapped up in. This is definitely a good susepense story.
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Summary: Where's the mystery
Review: I read this book expecting a mystery and wound up with a slew of Tennessee backwoods tales. None of the characters were that interesting and all were the product of things happening previously in their life. While a fast read, there was no depth. The mystery part of the book could have been written in less than 100 pages. There is too much of clutter of words that do not help the plot or the book. I hope the other books she's written are better, though I don't plan to find out.
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Summary: What an introduction to Sharyn McCrumbs book
Review: I read this book on the advice of a friend, and I am glad I did! I had never heardof Sharyn McCrumb prior to reading this book, and what an introduction. She quickly became my favorite author and I devoured her other books. But this book, was an excellent introduction, and is far and away the best book she has produced to date. She carefully and beautiful weaves together half a dozen threads and the result is a gripping, emotional, and beautiful novel. The characters are vivid and endearing neither angelic nor demonic, but like the whole of humanity are a combinations of the two. How I envy you reading this book book for the first time.
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