Lovely in Her Bones [Mass Market Paperback]

Sharyn McCrumb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 1990

"Who but Sharyn McCrumb can make a skull with a bullet hole funny? Those who like sardonic wit, slightly bent characters, and good fun will love LOVELY IN HER BONES."
Tony Hillerman
The sequel to SICK OF SHADOWS.
When an Appalachian dig to determine if an obscure Indian tribe in North Carolina can lay legal claim to the land they live on is stopped on account of murder, Elizabeth MacPherson -- eager student of the rites of the past and mysteries of the present -- starts digging deep. And when she mixes a little modern know-how with some old-fashioned suspicions, Elizabeth comes up with a batch of answers that surprise even the experts....

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Who but Sharyn McCrumb can make a skull with a bullet hole funny? Those who like sardonic wit, slightly bent characters, and good fun will love LOVELY IN HER BONES."
Tony Hillerman
The sequel to SICK OF SHADOWS.
When an Appalachian dig to determine if an obscure Indian tribe in North Carolina can lay legal claim to the land they live on is stopped on account of murder, Elizabeth MacPherson -- eager student of the rites of the past and mysteries of the present -- starts digging deep. And when she mixes a little modern know-how with some old-fashioned suspicions, Elizabeth comes up with a batch of answers that surprise even the experts....

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 13, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345360354
• ISBN-13: 978-0345360359
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.5 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,576 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

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pleasing lightweight mystery, September 28, 2002

By 

F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lovely in Her Bones (Mass Market Paperback)

This belongs at the lighter end of the crime novel spectrum,although this does not prevent it from making a sharp point or two about ethnicity and the way it impacts on the bureaucratic mind,especially in these days of political correctness.
Trying to establish their right to Native American tribal status, and by so doing preserve the land from the depredations of strip mining,the Cullowee people of the Appalachians invite the local University to carry out an archaelogical dig on theor land.When the expedition leader Professor Lerche,is murdered suspects are not exactly in short supply.
A local deputy sheriff does not want the dig to proceed as he stands to gain financially from any mining operation;the professor has broken off an affair with a graduate student ,to her intense displeasure and he has publicly humiliated a pompous undergraduate.Events taken an even darker turn with a second murder folowing hard on the heels of the professor's demise.
Heroine and series regular Elizabeth MacPherson steps in to unravel the case.
it is well written but lightweight and I suspect will be enjoyed mainly by devotees of the cosy and academic mysteries
McCrumb's Ballad novels are brilliant.This is not but it is a polished and professional diversion that satisfies on its own terms

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pure reading pleasure., February 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Lovely in Her Bones (Mass Market Paperback)

Yet another warm and witty treasure from the very talented McCrumb. Offers all the pleasures of mystery reading with considerably more depth of setting, character and significance of plot than in most crime novels. Not to mention a whole heck of a lot funnier.

5.0 out of 5 stars Love Lovely in Her Bones, July 31, 2011

By 

Book Lover "CYN" (Virginia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lovely in Her Bones (Mass Market Paperback)

Lovely in Her Bones by Sharyn McCrumb. This is the first book that I have read of Sharyn McCrumb and I must admit I loved it because it is set in my neck of the woods, North Carolina and Virginia. We meet Elizabeth MacPherson a recent graduate trying to decide on her future. She signs up for an archaeological dig in North Carolina to help an obscure Indian tribe prove its claim to the land they live on. The head of the dig is found murdered among his specimens and then a fellow student dies mysteriously. Elizabeth finds herself in danger before she can solve the mystery.