PMS Outlaws: An Elizabeth MacPherson Novel [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Sharyn McCrumb (Author), Barbara Rosenblat (Narrator)

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: RECORDED BOOKS, LLC; UNABRIDGED edition (2002)
• ISBN-10: 0788750127
• ISBN-13: 978-0788750120
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,786,551 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

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I was entertained, despite the rather obvious flaws., September 15, 2001

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The PMS Outlaws : An Elizabeth MacPherson Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Actually, I want to give credit where credit is due, McCrumb took on a very difficult topic in _The PMS Outlaws_. If she painted herself into a corner while doing so, that's not so very hard to understand.

Forensic Anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson checks herself into a mental hospital to recover from what she sees as situational depression resulting from the disappearance of her husband at sea. The primary issue in the book, and what makes this such difficult material, is that what Elizabeth believes is the cure for her unhappiness and what actually is the cure turn out to be two very different things.

The other plots-- the Thelma & Louise characters, Bill's mysterious codger-in residence-- are sketchily drawn and clearly are meant to focus more as humorous counterbalance to Elizabeth's struggle. The problem is that the publisher also didn't have the courage to highlight that the book is much more about the emotional struggle than the mystery, so the expectations raised by the title and the back of the book aren't met by the story itself.

McCrumb remains a smart writer. I do think that she may have been out of her depth here (or too limited by the genre) for what she was trying to accomplish. But I find it necessary to applaud the effort.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars NOT an Elizabeth MacPherson Novel, September 6, 2000

By 

Patrick Burnett "penngos" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The PMS Outlaws: An Elizabeth MacPherson Novel (Hardcover)

Once upon a time, there was a mystery writer named Sharyn McCrumb, who wrote wonderfully quirky tales about a woman named Elizabeth MacPherson. Elizabeth was funny and charming and a student of fornesic anthropology, then a field exclusively for women. Elizabth's adventures were made more entertaining by appearances from her extended, Southern family, most of whom were eccentric, some of whom were downright mad.

As often happens with series mystery writers, McCrumb became tired of Elizabeth and tried to make her more interesting by killing her husband, which served only to send Elizabeth spiralling into a deep blue funk, where she remained for many unamusing years.

In the mean time, McCrumb began writing a new series, set in the Appalachian and Smoky Mountains. These were well-received, both by critics and readers, so Elizabeth and her family were shunned, relegated to the bottom of the idea-heap, revived only when McCrumb had something to say that was not suited to her new darlings.

From time to time, McCrumb trots out the MacPherson family, but the focus now is on brother Bill who has started his own law practice with partner A.P. Hill, a tough female attorney. Elizabeth still appears, but in a secondary role, which is odd, because the books are generally subtitled, "An Elizabeth MacPherson Novel", not "A Bill MacPherson and A.P. Hill Novel".

In "The PMS Outlaws", Bill buys an old house that comes equipped with its own creepy old man and A.P. Hill becomes interested in "The PMS Outlaws", who seduce and rob sexist pigs, then chain them naked in public places. Not only is one of the outlaws a former schoolmate of Hill's, she has stolen Hill's name, too! Finally, Elizabeth has checked herself into a mental institution to see if she can (finally) come to terms with her husband's death.

I can't deny that the writing here is amusing and engaging - I read the whole book in a single sitting. And I do like Bill and AP as characters. But I miss the old Elizabeth and I pine for the days when McCrumb wrote mysteries, not hastily-written bits of Southern gothic. This is a good read and a fine novel. It's just not "an Elizabeth MacPherson novel".

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An easy and enjoyable read., May 21, 2001

By 

Mona Gracen (New York State, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The PMS Outlaws: An Elizabeth MacPherson Novel (Hardcover)

This may not have been one of Sharyn McCrumb's best books but I personally found it entirely enjoyable and easy to read. And I couldn't put it down. It's not a nail-biting thriller of a mystery like some of her other books, but I still found it very good. I actually enjoyed seeing Elizabeth mourn the loss of her husband - she seemed a little more human and less irritating than I have tended to find her in the past. I look forward to the next Elizabeth McPherson mystery - and I wonder if Bill and A.P. will ever get together... At any rate, bottom line, if you are looking for a hard core mystery novel, you are going to be disappointed (I'd hazard a guess that you'd be happier with the newest Ballad mystery by McCrumb set to come out this month). If you're looking for a novel wherein Elizabeth actively solves a mystery, you're going to be disappointed. But if you just are looking for an entertaining book about characters you already know and love with a wonderfully feminist slant, you'll thoroughly enjoy this book.