This is the first in the 'ballad' series of Appalachian novels by Sharyn McCrumb. I like this series so much, and I love that her recurring characters are more than just window-dressing, but are not the main focus of the books. This novel seems to take place in 1986, and it feels a bit dated, not only due to the lack of technology (no cell phones or computers, not even a fax machine in this tiny town) but also due to the interest in and latent advocacy for Vietnam veterans. Not to downplay the i...

A very slow moving story, though the writing is good. However, I did not connect with any of the characters which made it difficult to be pulled fully into the story. An okay book, but I probably won't be reading any more in the series.

Library copy

The beginning of the Ballad series and man, is ever good. Most of the ballad books can be read as stand alones, but if you haven't started yet, begin here. McCrumb has not done anything this good lately though.

McCrumb does a good job of describing scenery & setting and of capturing snapshots of southern Appalachia and its idiosyncratic characters. Rather than using dialect and accent to give her characters a distinctly Southern voice, however, she uses omniscient narration to reveal their rural, socially stratified, and geographically-defined thoughts and attitudes about their lives, environment, and neighbors. But if you subscribe to professor Jerry Leath Mills' (late of UNC-Chapel Hill) "Dead Mule"

Real slow to start. Hard to get into

I think highly of Sharyn McCrumb, partially because she writes about thinks I love in a voice I understand. This mystery novel is psychologically excruciating and funny at the same time, hallmarks of that dark voice she uses. Enter small town Sheriff Spencer Arrowood, a man trying to live with ghost of his older brother, the high-school football star killed in Vietnam. Spencer drives around town accompanied by his own mental jukebox, which gives him insight into emotions he was trained never to

Outstanding start to an excellent series. McCrumb's Ballad series takes place in the mountains of eastern Tennessee; recurring characters include the local sheriff (good policeman, carrying a complex load of personal baggage), a Vietnam veteran deputy (ditto), and elderly mountain woman with a long memory and unusual abilities.This series ranges back and forth in time, sometimes combining contemporary mysteries with historical fact. Heart-stopping ending -- Not to be missed.

Flat, two-dimensional characters + Easily identified "bad" guy + Uninteresting, unresolved subplots= a book I wish I hadn't wasted my time reading.

Sharyn McCrumb's If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O (1990) is set in the small Appalachian town of Hamelin, Tennessee where Spencer Arrowood is the Sheriff who keeps the peace. It's not a difficult job most of the time--an occasional run-away or teenage boy with excess energy stepping out of line; a few drunk and disorderlies...that's pretty much it. Then Peggy Muryan purchases the old Dandridge home. The moderately popular folksinger from the '60s is looking for a quiet place to compose new songs...

A great introduction to one of my favorite character-driven mystery series. Even though I’d read this before and knew who the culprit was, I thoroughly enjoyed re-visiting the folks and sheriff’s department regulars in the mountain community of Hamelin, Tennessee. What I’d forgotten was how well this gave recognition to Vietnam veterans and the challenges they faced even years after returning home. 3 1/2 stars

I'm a bit conflicted about this book because while I really liked the writing style, I thought the storyline was just okay. One issue, of course, is that the book was written in the 90s and so a lot of the references are dated. The mystery wasn't particularly compelling...in fact, for me, it was pretty obvious who did it. There was a lot of setup before getting to any meat. I'm hoping that her future books are a bit more intense because again her writing style is really good.

Sharyn McCrumb writes intriguing novels of mystery, some often called ballads, set in Appalachia. This was a spine-chilling book, hard to put down.

Well, smack my a** and call me a mystery reader! I ordered up the second one the next day. Paid cash money for it, too. I guess these are so old they are being lost to attrition in the library system, and not replaced. I'm not sure who I am anymore, but I really enjoyed this book. Me and Sheriff Spencer were inseparable for a few days while things got heated in our little Tennessee town. True to the promises of the lusty librarian Nancy Pearl and others, this author creates an excellent sense of...

I've read several McCrumb books, but not in any kind of order. So I'm starting at the beginning of the Ballad series, because I just love the Nora Bonesteel character and want to know everything about her. Sheriff Arrowood is another great character, and so is Joe LaDonne...well, I guess they are all great characters. :-) This one is fairly light reading, but there are some deeper moments involving Vietnam vets and the struggle to adjust after coming home. There is lots of Appalachian background...

This series has promise. Setting, lovely. Characters, yet to be fully developed. Mystery, too easy -- I knew who was doing the deeds as soon as the person stepped on stage. Story of the divorced, lonely, sheriff. He's got a boring job in a tiny Appalachian town. Then a stranger comes to town and is threatened by a mad-man.

Wonderful writing, sense of place, and characters: I will come back to this series just to visit them again. Unlike other readers, I didn't spot the murderer, and the motive still seems far-fetched...but so much related to America's misbegotten war in Vietnam did and still does.

Fun read. Loved the characters and didn’t want the book to end

I loved this reading experience that transported me to another time and place very different from my own. It was so good that I would even pedal a few extra minutes on my exercise bike to finish the chapter! The context of my favorite quote is a mother who desires to update her kitchen to suit herself now she finds herself alone. She lost her eldest son to the Vietnam War and is a widow with one son remaining: "This was the home of his childhood, and while he wouldn't want to live here anymore,

I love all of the "ballad" mysteries. Learned about this author in 1998 when I was working in the mountains of Virginia, where she is a local hero of sorts, since she's from that area. She tells a great story, and there is a cast of characters you get to know. Some of the books tell the story from a previous characters perspective - new story, new voice, but familiar setting. Very well done, and a nice insight into appalacian culture.