If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him (Elizabeth MacPherson, Bk 8) [Mass Market Paperback]

Sharyn McCrumb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 1996

When forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson becomes the official P.I. for her brother Bill's fledgling Virginia law firm, she quickly takes on two complex cases.  Eleanor Royden, a perfect lawyer's wife for twenty years, has shot her ex-husband and his wife in cold blood. And Donna Jean Morgan is implicated in the death of her Bible-thumping bigamist husband.

Bill's feminist firebrand partner, A. P. Hill, does her damnedest for Eleanor, an abused wife in denial, and Bill gallantly defends Donna Jean. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's forensic expertise, including her special knowledge of poisons, gives her the most challenging case of her career. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Three grievously wronged women take murderous revenge in this sharp-edged, witty tale, the eighth appearance of forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson. Her skills at research and detection come into play when she is hired as an investigator by her brother Bill's Virginia law firm. Bill has been asked to defend a woman accused of poisoning her philandering husband, a piously hypocritical preacher. Another law partner, the resolute Amy Powell Hill, ponders how best to defend a Richmond socialite who gleefully admits to shooting both her ex-husband and his new wife. Intertwined with these contemporary cases is a 19th-century mystery: How did a genteel Southern lady manage to poison her wealthy Yankee husband? Buoyed by intriguing characters, a wry?sometimes macabre?wit, and lush Virginia atmosphere, McCrumb's (MacPherson's Lament; The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter) mystery spins merrily along on its own momentum, concluding that justice will triumph... but in surprising ways. Mystery Guild selection.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Elizabeth MacPherson, Southern sleuth and forensic anthropologist, investigates a pair of murders for her brother's Virginia law firm. From the author of Missing Susan (Ballantine, 1991).
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett; later printing edition (March 31, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449149986
• ISBN-13: 978-0449149980
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.3 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am an award-winning Southern writer. I am probably best known for my
Appalachian "Ballad" novels, set in the North Carolina/Tennessee mountains. These books include New York Times Best Sellers She Walks These Hills and The Rosewood Casket, which deal with the issue of the vanishing wilderness, and The Ballad of Frankie Silver, the story of the first woman hanged for murder in the state of North Carolina; The Songcatcher, a genealogy in music; and Ghost Riders, an account of the Civil War in the Appalachians.

My newest novel St. Dale, the Canterbury Tales set in NASCAR, was published by Kensington Books of New York in 2005, and is currently a nominee for the Library of Virginia Literary Award in Fiction and a finalist for its People's Choice Award.

Honors include: the 2003 Award for Literature given by the
East Tennessee Historical Society; AWA Outstanding Contribution to
Appalachian Literature Award; Chaffin Award for Achievement in Southern
Literature; Plattner Award for Short Story; and AWA's Best Appalachian
Novel.

I was the first writer-in-residence at King College in Tennessee. In 2001 I
served as fiction writer-in-residence at the WICE Conference in Paris, and
in 2005 I was honored as the writer of the year at the annual literary
celebration at Emory and Henry College. (And I was the first Southern writer to take along a NASCAR driver to that literary seminar. Thank you, Ward Burton!)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Hilarious!, September 22, 2000

By 

Patricia Dumas "Professional Astrologer, Intu... (Chazy, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him (Elizabeth MacPherson, Bk 8) (Mass Market Paperback)

Sharyn McCrumb never ceases to entertain, and to allow her Elizabeth MacPherson books to possess a lighter side her Appalachian series does not. "If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him..." is a riot from beginning to end, with wonderful characters, a great plotline, and McCrumb's usual inimitable wit.

It's a great book to start with if you're introducing yourself to her Elizabeth MacPherson's stories, but all the others are great, too, particularly "Lovely in Her Bones," "Highland Laddie Gone," and "Missing Susan," which is deliciously wicked, ;-)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Has it all: humor, mystery, science, history, and feminism, July 8, 2001

By 

Douglas A. Greenberg (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him (Elizabeth MacPherson, Bk 8) (Mass Market Paperback)

Sharyn McCrumb has succeeded brilliantly in writing a novel that is a decent murder mystery and yet also so much more. She manages to incorporate some interesting bits of Civil War-era history and lore, some little-known facts regarding the nature of a certain poison that figures prominently in the story, and also some thoughtful insights into the nature of contemporary American sexism and women's varying reactions to it. Through it all, McCrumb manages to keep her reader laughing; as she spins out the various threads that comprise her tale, she exhibits a devastating wit which she employs to perfection in illustrating the foibles of her characters and of human life in general.

This was a book that once started, I had a hard time putting down. McCrumb always writes with grace and wit, and this is one of her very best efforts.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great mystery, some good laughs, and good writing, too!, June 21, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him... (Hardcover)

I love a good mystery, and I love a well-written book. Having both in the same package is a real treat!Sharyn McCrumb gives us vivid, fascinating portraits of women and their love relationships from several different perspectives. Her detective, Elizabeth MacPherson, is a young anthropologist grieving for her husband who is apparently lost at sea. She returns to her hometown and offers to help her brother, a young lawyer in a struggling law practice with a young woman partner. Elizabeth's "journal", letters she writes to the husband she never expects to see again, form the frame around portraits of three of the law firm's clients, all of them women with relationship problems. One woman was discarded by her husband for a younger, more attractive "trophy." She kills them both and says "Yes, I did it, and I'd do it again. They deserved it." The second is a battered wife whose husband is apparently murdered, but she swears she is innocent. The third is a young woman animal trainer who seeks the firm's help so that she can legally marry the love of her life--- who happens to be a dolphin! The women's stories are all both funny and poignant, and the denouement both credible and satisfying. A mystery that provides a good evening of entertainment is a worthy object. A book that introduces me to characters that I keep thinking about after I have finished it is even more worthy. This book succeeds both as a mystery and as a fascinating novel. I have enjoyed past Elizabeth MacPherson books, and they seem to get better and better! I can't wait for the next one!