Ballantine Lovely in Her Bones

An early Sharyn McCrumb story that surely did not disappoint. Her writing has grown and matured with subsequent books however "Lovely In Her Bones" was well done and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This book was a good read, but not nearly as complex and deep as some of her other books, such as "If I'd killed him when I met him" or "ghost riders". But it fills in a gap in the life story of Elizabeth McPherson, and is a pleasant, albeit somewhat predictable, mystery.

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.

Reading a Sharyn McCrumb book is never dull, but because I was "hooked" on her characters I liked this book. She starts out with an intriguing plot but simply fails to follow through. Her volunteer deputy is great. The perfect dolt to add humor to murder. I wanted to hear more about the medical lore and was a little disappointed when that character was revealed to be so "human". Perhaps because I have read so many of her books I know what she is capable of expected more. It didn't keep me from going on to the "next" book about Elizabeth Macphereson.

Could Sharyn McCrumb possibly write a dull or uninteresting book? My guess is no. Her stories always pull you into time and place and make you care very much about what is happening to her characters.