The Windsor Knot [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Sharyn McCrumb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2001

"Delicious. Delightful. A Royal entertainment."
Carolyn G. Hart
If forensic anthropologist and ameteur slueth Elizabeth MacPherson is to have tea with the Queen of England, she has to get married first. And in the space of five weeks, she plans to do just that. When an old neighbor receives word that her husband has died again, it's up to Elizabeth to determine just whose ashes the double widow has been cursing at all these years....
From Mystery Writers of America award winner Sharyn McCrumb, author of MacPHERSON'S LAMENT, and IF I'D KILLED HIM WHEN I MET HIM...


From the Paperback edition.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her latest outing (after Paying the Piper ) amateur sleuth and student of forensic science Elizabeth MacPherson ties the knot with her reserved Scottish fiance, Cameron Dawson. Although the irrepressible Georgia resident and her beau had originally planned a long engagement, Elizabeth--a devotee of Britain's Royal Family--accelerates the wedding date so that she can attend Queen Elizabeth's annual Scottish garden party with Cameron. Under the guidance of her socially correct Aunt Amanda, Elizabeth muddles through prenuptial preparations that bring her in contact with a passel of hilarious characters, including a seamstress of the Southern belle tradition, an off-the-wall New Age catering group and the local TV weather announcer. Despite her wedding jitters, Elizabeth doesn't lose her cool when the sheriff drops in to ask her expert opinion about an urn of cremated ashes. It seems a neighborhood resident who had been presumed dead for five years just might have met his end more recently. Elizabeth is less centrally involved in the crime and detection than usual, but this doesn't diminish the appeal of McCrumb's sparkling spoof.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

"Delicious. Delightful. A Royal entertainment."
Carolyn G. Hart
If forensic anthropologist and ameteur slueth Elizabeth MacPherson is to have tea with the Queen of England, she has to get married first. And in the space of five weeks, she plans to do just that. When an old neighbor receives word that her husband has died again, it's up to Elizabeth to determine just whose ashes the double widow has been cursing at all these years....
From Mystery Writers of America award winner Sharyn McCrumb, author of MacPHERSON'S LAMENT, and IF I'D KILLED HIM WHEN I MET HIM... --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 267 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; Lrg edition (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0783894074
• ISBN-13: 978-0783894072
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,890,287 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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Keeps you laughing, June 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Windsor Knot (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the best and funniest of the MacPherson series. You won't turn a page without getting a good laugh. MacPherson's crazy family is back. This is a very enjoyable book. I recommend that you read Sick of Shadows first so that you will be familiar with the characters.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Married In Haste, February 13, 2011

By 

Miz Ellen "all the letters of my real name" (Bovine Universe) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Windsor Knot (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a deliciously funny mystery about Americans, British Royalty, forensic anthropology and getting married in haste.

Not for THAT reason. Dr. Cameron Dawson, marine biologist, gets selected off the honors list to attend a garden party given by the Queen. Due to his brother failing to forward his mail to America, Dr. Dawson doesn't get the invitation until after his return to Scotland, three weeks before the party. Dr. Dawson is less then happy--he's going to have to wear a tie. It's his American fiancee, Elizabeth MacPherson, who is royalty-mad.

The problem: she hasn't been invited. Only spouses can come and she and Dr. Dawson are planning their wedding for next summer. Unless she puts aside the careful plans that are being laid for next year and gets married in the next two weeks. She needs to arrange for leave from her academic job and risk annoying her adviser before getting her degree. The issue is complicated by the fact that Elizabeth's parents are in Hawaii--so she turns to her Aunt Amanda to cope with the wedding. Now that Amanda is off the sauce and out of the crazy bin, she's ready to tackle this small challenge of bringing off a proper Southern society wedding in two weeks.

Complications ensue. Elizabeth considers putting the entire wedding party in kilts. Dr. Dawson's ugly garden gnome goes wandering--lost, stolen or strayed? Cousin Charles goes in search of a lady love. And a local widow gets the word that her husband has just died again.

Yes, that's right.

The main problem with this crazy cozy is that the characters are a bit too much over the top. It's still great fun to read and makes a marvelous antidote any time British Royalty hits the news.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Three and a half really, March 11, 2001

By 

Helen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Windsor Knot (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a cutie and a cosy although does not rank anywhere near the stratospheric heights of this author's Ballad series of novels. However, Elizabeth's pre-nuptial exploits are fun and entertaining for a quick rainy day read.