The Rosewood Casket [Hardcover]

Sharyn McCrumb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

As Randall Stargill's four sons prepare to bury their late father, Randall's former sweetheart, Nora Bonesteel, brings a small box to be buried with him, a box containing a child's bones, in a mystery complicated by the efforts of a real-estate developer to obtain the Stargill homestead. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It would have been almost impossible for McCrumb to top her last book, She Walks These Hills, one of the best mysteries of the last decade. But this story of a Southern family haunted by deeds done and undone comes very close: It's full of beautifully-observed details of everyday life which anchor the mystical moments and keep us rooted in reality. This one -- and other McCrumb classics like The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter -- are perfect gifts for readers who haven't yet found a way into the mystery genre.

From Publishers Weekly

Two missing children, unscrupulous land grabbing (past and present), a shooting, a manhunt and visits from both an angel and a ghost are rendered with little suspense or mystery in McCrumb's fourth ballad novel, following the bestselling She Walks These Hills. As Randall Stargill lies in a coma in a Tennessee hospital, his four sons-a career soldier, a car salesman, a country singer and a naturalist-gather at the Appalachian family farm to prepare for his approaching death: while the men work on the handmade coffin daddy wants, their wives (one is a girlfriend) sew a quilt to line it. Old Nora Bonesteel, a neighbor and clairvoyant, brings something to tuck into Randall's coffin: a small box containing a child's skeleton. Sheriff Spencer Arrowood can't persuade Nora to tell whose bones they are; that trickle of frustration turns into a flood of bad luck when an oily real-estate developer enlists Arrowood's assistance to evict a neighboring family from their debt-encumbered farm (land that was originally swiped from the Cherokee, as McCrumb notes). The shooting of Sheriff Arrowood is a crime unrelated to the question of whose bones are in the box, though both issues are eventually resolved in the same mountain location. With few characters to care about and its low punch and puzzle quotients, this bland and cobbled tale is a miss for the accomplished McCrumb. 75,000 first printing; Mystery Guild and Literary Guild selections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; First Edition edition (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525940111
• ISBN-13: 978-0525940111
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #957,031 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

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written and with literary merit....., November 3, 2003

By 

Thistle Brown (Bellefontaine, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rosewood Casket (Paperback)

I came across the Rosewood Casket in one of my bookshelves, a first edition I had no memory of buying. Most often drawn to British writers (or Americans who "write British"), I was quickly drawn not only into Sharyn McCrumb's story, but her style and clear indication that she knows English and how to use it to great advantage. She is unpretentious and even her other-worldly concerns are non-intrusive and never offensive. She is a very gifted writer, indeed. I'd regret that I hadn't read her before, but now I get to read EVERYTHING. Now that I've finished the Rosewood Casket, I handed it to my husband, Allan Eckert. We sat across from her last year at the Kentucky Book Fair and I enjoyed her delightful personality very much. Now I can enjoy her wonderful books.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the more things change...., August 2, 2005

By 

Linda Pagliuco "katknit" (CT, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Rosewood Casket (Paperback)

"The more things change, the more they stay the same." The Rosewood Casket demonstrates how true this old saying is. McCrumb cleverly melds historical figure Daniel Boone with novel character Clayt Stargill, making this close to a time travel mystery with history repeating itself. The timeless tensions inherent in relationships - father/son, brother/brother, husband/wife, friend/friend, nature/man - play a pivotal role in this story that revolves around basic questions about who owns the land. The resolution of the central mystery involving the apparition in the woods is chilling.

McCrumb is a skilled, elegant writer - her prose is a pleasure to read.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McCrumb delivers another winner!, May 12, 2003

By 

"turtlechick" (Shawsville, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rosewood Casket (Paperback)

As I read this novel, the old song "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" ran through my mind. The endless circle is the losing of the land. The prehistoric animals of iceage Appalachia lose the land to the Cherokees, who lose the land to the settlers, and their descendants lose the land to the real estate speculators. When Randall Stargill's four sons gather on the family farm to build their father's coffin, they embody the latest generation to face the quandry of losing the land. This is a story of cultural politics as much as of family dynamics. McCrumb lets you feel the love of the mountains while suffering the pain of losing them.