Dire Happenings at Scratch Ankle (Kate Mulcay Mystery) [Paperback]

Celestine Sibley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Kate Mulcay Mystery | Publication Date: October 1994

Insatiably curious Atlanta news reporter Kate Mulcay has a wonderful time traveling with a delegation of Atlanta legislators to an annual gathering of cavers--until several of her traveling companions turn up dead. Reprint. K.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Picturesque place names like Scratch Ankle, Plum Nelly and Hog Jowl Road and the over-the-top personalities of many in the cast don't make up for Sibley's slim plot. In her third outing, after Straight as an Arrow , Atlanta reporter and amateur sleuth Kate Mulcay is invited to the town of Rising Fawn on the Georgia-Tennessee border. Georgia state legislator "Return" Pickett, a Cherokee, wants her to write about his campaign to reclaim Tennessee land stolen from his tribe. Kate is accompanied by two young backwoods chatterboxes of her acquaintance, Sheena and Kim Sue Gandy, who have joined her for the weekend because "Mommer's got to go hep midwife our aint." The three drive to Pickett's trailer only to find him missing and the walls drenched in blood. A beating, a kidnapping and a murder occur while they search for the missing man as Kate also uncovers a massive property scam. Grating dialect and plot twists that are either obvious or incredible pretty much sink this story.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Another chapter in the adventurous life of young widow Kate Mulcay, reporter-sleuth for an Atlanta newspaper (Straight as an Arrow, etc.). Here, Kate is intrigued by charismatic young State Representative Return Pickett, a Native American who's pressing a Cherokee land claim on the Tennessee border. Kate drives to his hometown of Rising Fawn, with her neighbor's preteen daughters Sheena and Kim Sue Gandy in tow, to find out more about this cause. But Pickett fails to show for their appointment--and Kate discovers his mobile home empty and awash in blood. Local experts and visiting cave explorers mount a search of the Tricky Terrain for the missing man while Kate meets Addie Armentrout, deranged owner of the only vacant motel rooms in miles, whose actions drive her to accept the hospitality of Pickett's girlfriend Edie Putnam. Meanwhile, Representatives Motley Banks and Trent Goodman arrive to spur the search--and soon Banks has disappeared too. Before it's all over, the Gandy girls have been rescued from a rock fall; Kate has climbed down a well to rescue local bigwig Paw Paw Merritt; and there's been a second murder. Motivation and culprit are briskly disposed of in the last pages of this Nancy Drew meets Sheena, Jungle Queen episode-- frisky, amiable, and weightless. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 131 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (Mm) (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061090506
• ISBN-13: 978-0061090509
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,762,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE BETTER ONES!!!, August 22, 2002

By 

Mac Blair "Mac Blair" (Huntingdon, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dire Happenings at Scratch Ankle (Kate Mulcay Mystery) (Paperback)

Have read several Sibleybooks and this is one of the better ones to me. Kate Mulcay is set to interview Representative Return Pickett, called Turn by his friends. He does not show up and when they go to see about him all they find is a bloody trailer where he lived. Kate sets out to solve the mystery, she has to put up with theGandy girls, a crazy woman who a motel, a sheriff who is very young, a co-worker she can't stand. She has to go into a deep cave to try to rescue someone and she get shot at. The ending has a slight twist to it. All in all a nice little, faily clean mystery. A quick read and one I think you will enjoy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love her books., March 29, 2006

By 

Born to Read (East Coast) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dire Happenings at Scratch Ankle (Kate Mulcay Mystery) (Paperback)

I found Ms. Sibley late and am grateful for the mysteries that she penned. Solid stories with likeable characters. I like her work so much that I've taken to ordering other books, non-mysteries, that she has written. I wish she had taken up mysteries sooner. I glad to know of her. Glad that Amazon still makes her books available through bookseller. I'll miss Kate and will certainly miss Ms. Sibley.