The Blood Ballad (Torie O'Shea Mysteries, No. 11) [Hardcover]

Rett MacPherson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 19, 2008

Genealogist and mother of three Torie O’Shea is out birding on the cliffs of the Mississippi River as part of New Kassell, Missouri’s first ever bird-watching Olympics, when someone starts shooting at her and her partner. Disoriented and running for their lives, they stumble over an antique trunk and discover a badly beaten dead body stuffed inside.

Soon after this disturbing event, musicologist Glen Morgan shows up at the Kendall House, Torie’s new textile museum, claiming to be Torie’s cousin and to have proof that Torie’s grandfather secretly may have written a number of popular songs for the Morgan Family Players, who were famous country music singers. Being a genealogist and the head of the local historical society, Torie doesn’t appreciate anyone shaking up a family tree that she has spent years putting together, but Glen’s old recordings are more than she can resist. After a little digging in the library and some serious snooping into the shooting, Torie starts to uncover secrets about her family and the town that even she didn’t know.

Rett MacPherson’s intricate plots and delightful small-town characters with long family histories hit all of the right notes in The Blood Ballad, the newest installment in her terrific Torie O’Shea series.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In MacPherson's tepid 11th Torie O'Shea mystery (after 2007's Died in the Wool), the New Kassell, Mo., genealogist learns that her fiddler grandfather, John Robert Keith, was possibly related to the Morgan Family Players, a Depression-era country band famous in five states. Glen Morgan, the grandson of musician Scott Morgan, phones Torie to say he has a tape suggesting Torie's grandfather wrote some songs Scott Morgan took credit for. Meanwhile, during a birding expedition, Torie witnesses the dumping of a corpse, who turns out to be another Morgan grandson, Clifton Weaver. Soon after, Torie receives an eerie CD, evidently mailed by Weaver before his death. On the CD is a blood ballad, in effect the murder confession of Belle Morgan, a member of the clan who disappeared years earlier, sung by an unidentified female. When the song leads to the discovery of Belle's long-lost body, Torie gets on the case. Her slogging through genealogical clues doesn't have a lot of drama, but her warm spirit is sure to appeal to cozy fans. (Feb.)
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Review

Praise for Rett MacPherson

“Torie’s determined historical detective work will absorb cozy readers.”
---Publishers Weekly on Died in the Wool

“MacPherson deftly ties together fascinating historical facts, colorful characters, and a suspenseful plot. This series seems to get more and more enjoyable with age.”
---Booklist on Thicker than Water

“Delightful . . . Weaving the story and the characters into the believable minutiae of small-town life, MacPherson provides a stellar example of the traditional cozy.”
---Publishers Weekly on Blood Relations

“A slice of Americana as warm and comforting as apple pie à la mode.”
---Booklist on Blood Relations

“O’Shea has developed into a thoroughly likable character. . . . Long may she snoop.”
---St. Louis Post-Dispatch on A Comedy of Heirs

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (February 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312362226
• ISBN-13: 978-0312362225
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,370,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SHE JUST KEEP GETTING BETTER WITH EACH BOOK!, April 17, 2009

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Blood Ballad (Torie O'Shea Mysteries, No. 11) (Hardcover)

As those of you who read works in this particular genre know, after several books, most authors sort of wear out. They seem to lose the "thing" that made their series so good in the first place. This is an endless list, and it is not the intent to go into that with this review. Those who read "cozy" mysteries will know precisely what and whom I am talking about.

Well delight of delights! This sad little and unfortunate trait has not infected Rett MacPherson one little bit. This is number eleven in her Torie O'Ohea Mystery series and I do believe that Ms. MacPherson is actually getting better and better with each book. Those that are familiar with these particular novels know that they center around a small town in Eastern Missouri and that the main character, Torie O'Shea is the local town historian, owner of two museums, the town's genealogist, mother of three children, owner of several animals, including horses, is involved in just about ever aspect of village life in the small community where she lives, knows most of the characters in the surrounding area and has a bad habit of getting involved with murder! This is one busy girl and if the reader is exhausted after reading one of the works in this series, then it is a good exhaustion and was well worth the effort.

Readers and fans will not be disappointed with this latest work. Torie becomes involved with birdwatchers, a rather wacky crew, right from the start, and good grief, she gets shot at and has a body thrown at her! She then becomes quite involved with a family who is a musical ledged in the area which lead her back to her own roots and a rather musical family. Mix this in with raising two teenage girls, a six year old son, solving the current murder while at the same time solving one that is 70 years old, along with her many civic and family responsibilities, and you have a very fast moving story that is absolutely hilarious at times. And oh, did I mention a mystery horse that shows up in their stable?

Due to the nature of this authors work, it is almost impossible to give a plot outline without throwing in spoilers in just about ever sentence. There are many twists and turns to this little book; each a bit of a mini-mystery within itself. Each of these many twists are quite logical and Ms. MacPherson is not one of those authors who, in desperation, throws in a last minute bit of information on the second to the last page to end her story. If you read, and read carefully, you may be able to figure out "who done it," but then maybe not. That is one of the fun parts of reading this author's books. I will say that the plot is more complex with this one than some of MacPherson's past work, but that is a good thing and has certainly not increased to the point of being overwhelming, which as far as I am concerned, would take away one of the reasons I read these little mysteries.

It has been very interesting following the Torie O'Shea Mysteries as it has enable me to follow the growth and maturity of a very fine author and story teller. I always learn something from these books (genealogy), am entertained and in the end, want more. I do like these books and this author.

As a personal note, or notes: I was at first a bit offended at the author's portrayal of birders (birdwatchers). You get the impression that these people are a bunch of rather eccentric individuals wondering around in the woods...unguarded and clueless. Being a birder for well over 50 years I suddenly did some self examination and had to admit that the author pretty well hit the nail on the head; indeed, we are a band of very strange critters, when all is said and done. Secondly; even though this story takes place near St Louis, Mo., it is in no way is about that city so the reader need not fear that. The setting is rather small town and rural and has universal appeal well outside its geographical setting.

This is a great little cozy mystery and I do home we have many more coming from this author in the future. Put this one on your "to read list," as you will be in for a treat.

Family Skeletons (Torie O'Shea Mysteries, No. 1)
A Veiled Antiquity (Torie O'Shea Mysteries)
A Comedy of Heirs (Torie O'Shea Mysteries, No. 3)
A Misty Mourning (Torie O'Shea Mysteries, No. 4)
Killing Cousins (Torie O'Shea Mysteries, No. 5)
Blood Relations
In Sheep's Clothing (Torie O'Shea Mysteries, No. 7)
Thicker Than Water
Dead Man Running: A Torie O'Shea Mystery
Died in the Wool (Torie O'Shea Mysteries)

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A most captivating story, well told, March 12, 2008

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blood Ballad (Torie O'Shea Mysteries, No. 11) (Hardcover)

(11th in fascinating Torie O'Shea mysteries)

This tale is set in the country around St. Louis, Missouri. Torie works at the historical society in New Kassel, Missouri, and also runs a small museum of women's textile arts in an historic home. She is a local historian and a genealogist, and a mother and wife.

While out birding with a friend, they are shot at-and run for their lives-only to have a trunk come crashing down a cliff, open at their feet and dump out a bloody body.

Later a descendant of the Scott Morgan musical clan comes to Torie with a CD which contains performances recorded years ago, with her grandfather as a young man playing with the famous Morgan family musicians. The introductions on the CD clearly state that her grandfather had written the songs, songs that Scott Morgan took credit for. During the Depression the small song royalties would have made a difference.

Then Torie's eccentric cousin Phoebe arrives with some old letters to Scott Morgan, written by Torie's great-grandmother. The letters chide him for his treatment of "the boy, who looks more like you than your own sons," and mentions a woman named Peggy. Phoebe assumes that means that Torie's grandfather was actually Scott Morgan's son. Torie does some research and finds the mother and son, one of three known as `other side of the blanket' children that Scott Morgan fathered over the years.

The dead man in the trunk, Cliff Weaver, had mailed Torie a CD, containing more Morgan family music, including a solo by a woman claiming to have murdered Belle Morgan. Morgan had disappeared supposedly with a lover in the 1930s, abandoning her husband and children. Using the information in the "blood ballad," as Torie calls it, she is able to direct the authorities to Belle's body. She now has two mysteries to solve. Who murdered Cliff Weaver, and who murdered Belle, all those years ago? Are these deaths connected? Sheriff Mort Joachim actually welcomes Torie's help with these cases.

While the family trees are complicated, the story is captivating. I especially enjoyed Torie's family and her genealogical work. The author is a genealogist, too.

Armchair Interviews says: An outstanding series of cozy mysteries.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read, March 13, 2008

By 

A. A. Drayton "fussy reader" (Sydney, AUSTRALIA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Blood Ballad (Torie O'Shea Mysteries, No. 11) (Hardcover)

I pre-ordered this title because I've enjoyed the previous Torie O'Shea books and, I have to say, I wasn't disappointed. I love old mysteries being solved, I love genealogy AND I really like the O'Sheas and extended family and friends (although Eleanore can be irritating!). One thing that's been driving me crazy is that in the first book, Colin was divorced with children. In a later book he had never been married. Unforgivable in a series revolving around family trees! That aside, I thoroughly enjoy the series and would recommend it to cosy readers who like a touch of history mingled with family life, humour and good writing.