The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

Rating:
Summary: A cookie cutter mystery novel
Review: This novel actually represents two books for me: the first Sharyn McCrumb novel I've ever read, and the last. As a lifelong resident of East Tennessee, I bought the book out of a newfound interest in regional fiction. But I was very disappointed to find that the author instead seems to have simply pasted local place names onto cookie-cutter "mountain situations." Also, I'm not very familiar with the mystery genre, but it's probably not a good sign that I had figured out the latter half of the entire storyline when I was barely halfway through with the book. The book is probably fine for die-hard mystery fans, but don't stumble in looking for great regional literature or an artful rendering of local color. And disregard any comparisons between the work of McCrumb and that of Charles Frazier (author of Cold Mountain). They're simply not on the same level of expertise.

Rating:
Summary: PHENOMENAL!
Review: This was the first book I read of the Ballad Mysteries by Sharyn McCrumb - I was a little out of order. I could not put it down the entire time I read it - even on vacation. I then quickly read the other four books. I read the first and fifth book last, which was, I think, appropriate since they were the weakest of the bunch. Those two did not hold on to the eery spirituality the other three did. However, I look forward to more Ballad mysteries. They are astoundingly wonderful! They remind me so much of both the ballads I listened to as a child and the family stories I've heard of my own backwoods ancestors. Great stuff!