New Releases by Sharyn McCrumb

Collecting together the critically acclaimed The Book of Ballads and Sagas series by the legendary fantasy artist Charles Vess. The award-winning compendium of English, Irish and Scottish fairy tales and folklore returns to print in a sumptuous new collection featuring stories written by multi-award winning author Neil Gaiman (‘Sandman’, ‘Coraline’, and ‘Stardust’), Eisner and Harvey Award-winning cartoonish Jeff Smith (‘Bone’), Aurora award-winning author Charles De Lint, New York Times Bestseller Sharyn McCrumb, Elaine Lee (‘Starstruck’) and acclaimed children’s writer Jane Yolen. This new collection also includes, for the first time since its original publication, back in 1995, Vess’ unfinished epic saga ‘Skade’, and includes an additional 10 pages of artwork that have never been seen before. “Each ballad is a little gem sparkling with restored vitality. It is all here: lust and humor, ghosts and demons, passion and terror, all the things that keep us up at night. What more could the fantasy reader desire?” – SciFi Dimensions “Here Vess reaches the peak of his art, standing proudly with the 19th and early 20th century illustrators who influence him.” – Publishers Weekly “A cloth of rare delight, rich with the perfume of the forest and its graces.” – James Gurney, author of Dinotopia

A novel based on the case of the Greenbrier Ghost.

Suddenly thrust into the role of primary caretaker for her family following the tragic death of her husband, Ellie Robbins is appointed to serve out his term as sheriff of their rural Tennessee mountain town. The year is 1936, and her role is largely symbolic, except for the one task that only a sheriff can do: execute a convicted prisoner. Ellie has long proven she can handle herself. But becoming sheriff is altogether different, and the demands of the role are even more challenging when she is forced to combat society''s expectations for a woman. Soon enough, dark secrets come to light, and Ellie must grapple with small town superstitions and the tenuaous ties she shared with a condemned killer as she carves out a place for herself in an uncertain future. --

When someone buys the old Honeycutt house, Nora Bonesteel is glad to see some life brought back to the old mansion, even if it is by summer people. But when they decide to stay through Christmas, they find more than old memories in the walls. On Christmas Eve, Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and Deputy Joe LeDonne find themselves on an unwelcome call to arrest an elderly man for a minor offense. As they attempt to do their duty, while doing the right thing for a neighbor, it begins to look like they may all spend Christmas away from home. In a story of spirits, memories, and angels unaware, Sharyn McCrumb revisits her most loved characters who know there is more to this world than the eye can see, especially at Christmastime.

Drawn into the American Revolution by famous British officer Patrick Ferguson''s threat against his settlement, John Sevier organizes the Carolina Overmountain Men militia and leads them through a pivotal victory against Tory forces. (mystery & detective).

"Eloquent, lyrical, and richly textured . . . There is no one quite like [McCrumb] among present-day writers. No one better either." —San Diego Union-Tribune With a career spanning decades, and superlatives from reviewers nationwide--whose bestselling novels have been named Notable Books by the New York Times and the LA Times--this is one of Sharyn McCrumb''s most cherished novels. The stage is set for family drama when Randall Stargill lies dying on his southern Appalachian farm, and his four sons come home to build him a coffin made from the special cache of rosewood he has saved for this purpose. Meanwhile, mountain wisewoman, Nora Bonesteel, prepares another box—to be buried with him. Among them, a real estate developer is hovering over the family''s farm bringing secrets and tensions to the surface. In a style both lyrical and beautifully detailed, with a narrative that flows from Native American lore and the burnished tales of Daniel Boone—up to the sharpest, and keenly realized landscapes of Appalachia today, The Rosewood Casket is a novel as hauntingly beautiful as the mountains that gave it charge--and a stunning addition to our collection of McCrumb Ballad novels.

Literary works honoring the role of women and quilting in history—from Harriet Beecher Stowe, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker, Sharyn McCrumb, and others. This collection of stories, plays, poems, and songs featuring the making of quilts—written from 1845 to the present, mainly by American women—documents women’s literary history. Featuring the work of Bobbie Ann Mason, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker, Sharyn McCrumb, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Marge Piercy, Adrienne Rich, and many others, Quilt Stories is a colorful literary album of stories, poems, and plays that celebrate quilting as a pattern in women’s history. These stories—grouped under the themes of memory, courtship, struggle, mystery, and wisdom—reflect the importance of quilting in the lives of American women, not only as a practical craft and a creative outlet, but also as an integral part of the social community. “The 28 works included in Quilt Stories restore to women a part of their history and their sense of community, an important service in a present time in which quilting has perhaps become a more private and individual art, though it still serves widely as a medium for social exchange and cooperative endeavor.” —Appalachian Quarterly “Macheski has pieced together a variety of literary fabrics into a unique design which represents women’s struggle for identity in a masculine world.” —Benton, Arkansas Courier “Each writing shares a glimpse of what quilting means to those people who practice the art and how it helps us to see, remember, learn, know and express our feelings.” —Quilt World “An innovative approach to writing the history of women.” —Northwest Ohio Quarterly

A century after a woman was hanged for killing her husband, a Tennessee sheriff reopens her case. Spencer Arrowood always thought she was innocent, but now that he has been summoned to witness an execution he needs to know.

The Ballad of Tom Dooley is a literary triumph—what began as a fictional re-telling of the historical account of one of the most famous mountain ballads of all time became an astonishing revelation of the real culprit responsible for the murder of Laura Foster Hang down your head, Tom Dooley...The folk song, made famous by the Kingston Trio, recounts a tragedy in the North Carolina mountains after the Civil War. Laura Foster, a simple country girl, was murdered and her lover Tom Dula was hanged for the crime. The sensational elements in the case attracted national attention: a man and his beautiful, married lover accused of murdering the other-woman; the former governor of North Carolina spearheading the defense; and a noble gesture from the prisoner on the eve of his execution, saving the woman he really loved. With the help of historians, lawyers, and researchers, Sharyn McCrumb visited the actual sites, studied the legal evidence, and uncovered a missing piece of the story that will shock those who think they already know what happened—and may also bring belated justice to an innocent man. What seemed at first to be a sordid tale of adultery and betrayal was transformed by the new discoveries into an Appalachian Wuthering Heights. Tom Dula and Ann Melton had a profound romance spoiled by the machinations of their servant, Pauline Foster. Bringing to life the star-crossed lovers of this mountain tragedy, Sharyn McCrumb gifts understanding and compassion to her compelling tales of Appalachia, and solidifies her status as one of today''s great Southern writers.

Bestselling author Sharyn McCrumb, internationally acclaimed for the "quiet fire"* of her Appalachian Ballad novels, clearly has a dark side--a wicked, sardonic wit that has prompted critics to compare her to Jane Austen and Jonathan Swift. Readers and reviewers alike also have lauded Ms. McCrumb for her inspired chronicles of forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson. In her newest tale in the MacPherson saga, McCrumb examines society''s fascination with beauty--and the deceptiveness of outer appearances. Elizabeth herself, hospitalized for depression over her missing husband, learns that insanity liberates one from polite hypocrisy, enabling a "crazy lady" to remark: "Anorexia is not a disease; it''s a career move." Out in the real world, Elizabeth''s brother Bill has bought a stately old mansion to use as his law office, only to find that the house comes with a charming codger-in-residence who is far too old to be a dangerous outlaw. . . isn''t he? Meanwhile, the steel magnolia who is Bill''s law partner is trying to track down the PMS Outlaws--an escaped convict and her fugitive attorney--who are cruising pickup joints and wreaking a peculiar vengeance on lust-crazed men. Sharyn McCrumb''s incisive wit and her genius for mirroring everyday life are once again on full display. The PMS Outlaws is an outrageous parable of modern mores, where beauty is the weapon, and nobody is safe. *The New York Times Book Review

"In an earlier life, McCrumb must have been a balladeer, singing of restless spirits, star-crossed lovers, and the consoling beauty of nature. . . . The overall effect is spellbinding." --The Washington Post Bestselling author Sharyn McCrumb is "a born storyteller" (Mary Higgins Clark) who astonishes readers and reviewers with the power and scope of her talent, prompting the San Diego Union-Tribune to declare: "There is no one quite like her among present-day writers. No one better, either." Foggy Mountain Breakdown, the first-ever collection of Sharyn McCrumb''s short fiction, is a literary quilting of old and new, humorous and heartfelt, offering award-winning works--and two stories never before published, contrasting mountain childhoods past and present. Chilling tales of suspense alternate with evocative character portraits and compelling narratives that embrace the southern Appalachian locales and themes of McCrumb''s acclaimed Ballad Novels. Within this cornucopia of two dozen stories, Old Rattler, a mountain healer, skirmishes with a serial killer . . . Princess Di investigates long-kept secrets within the House of Windsor . . . A reincarnated murder victim seeks delicious revenge . . . And while honeymooning in the bridegroom''s ancestral hilltop homeplace, two newlyweds harbor second thoughts. The author''s perfect-pitch ear for dialogue and ability to illuminate the dark side of human nature merge with her brilliant artistry to make Foggy Mountain Breakdown a virtuoso collection for devotees of Sharyn McCrumb--and for the legion of new readers who will find themselves caught under her spell.

The book that started it all for Edgar Award winner Sharyn McCrumb''s widely acclaimed series featuring amateur sleuth Elizabeth MacPherson. When delicate Eileen Chandler is set to marry, her family fears the man is a fortune hunter. Thank goodness, Eileen''s cousin Elizabeth MacPherson comes early for support. Unfortunately, Elizabeth also has some detecting to do, as a dead body is found, and none of the wedding party is above suspicion.... "A good deal of suspense...McCrumb writes with a sharp-pointed pen." LOS ANGELES TIMES

"Who but Sharyn McCrumb can make a skull with a bullet hole funny? Those who like sardonic wit, slightly bent characters, and good fun will love Lovely in Her Bones."—Tony Hillerman When an Appalachian dig to determine if an obscure Indian tribe in North Carolina can lay legal claim to the land they live on is stopped on account of murder, Elizabeth MacPherson—eager student of the rites of the past and mysteries of the present—starts digging deep. And when she mixes a little modern know-how with some old-fashioned suspicions, Elizabeth comes up with a batch of answers that surprise even the experts. . . .

Edgar Award winner Sharyn McCrumb brings you her sixth Elizabeh MacPherson mystery novel. The unsinkable Elizabeth is on tour of England''s most famous murder sites, when Rowan Rover, the group leader, is quietly asked to commit murder. He does, of course, but not without misgivings--not the least of which is having Elizabeth MacPherson, canny observer and all-around murder spoiler, on his tail... "Sharyn McCrunb is definitely a rising star in the New Golden Age of mystery fiction. I look forward to reading her for a long time to come." Elizabeth Peters

“Sharyn McCrumb transforms mystery into astonishing literature.”—The Cleveland Plain Dealer Forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson gets a chance to revel in the rites of the old country at the annual Glencoe Mountain Games, the Scottish festival where several hundred like-minded Americans celebrate their ancestors'' folkways. But the innocent ethnic fair is cursed when the loathed Colin Campbell is found murdered. Then a second murder silences everyone''s bagpipes for good. Enter Elizabeth, who make short work of her search for motive and murderer. “I had a great time at Sharyn McCrumb''s inimitable version of the Highland games.”—Charlotte MacLeod

"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...

A sci-fi convention gets a dose of true crime in this Edgar Award-winning mystery by the New York Times bestselling author of the Ballad novels. When Virginia Tech professor James Owen Mega wrote a fictional account of his real-life research, he hardly expected it to get published. But when a publisher changed the title of his novel to Bimbos of the Death Sun, James—under the pen name Jay Omega—becomes an overnight sci-fi star. Invited to the annual fan convention Rubicon, James is both a fish out of water and a Guest of Honor among the Trekkies and sword-wielding cosplayers. But he’s not the only VIP at the overrun hotel. Revered fantasy author Appin Dungannon never misses a Rubicon—or a chance to belittle his legions of devotees. But when Dungannon turns up dead, police wonder if a die-hard fan finally turned to murder. As the list of suspects grows and hucksters hunt for the victim’s autograph, James devises an ingenious way to catch a killer.

"Ms. McCrumb writes with quiet fire and maybe a little mountain magic. . . . She plucks the mysteries from people''s lives and works these dark narrative threads into Appalachian legends older than the hills. Like every true storyteller, she has the Sight."—The New York Times Book Review In 1935, a beautiful young schoolteacher is accused of murdering her coal-miner father in a Virginia mountain community. National journalists descend on Wise County, intent upon exonerating the defendant, and on stereotyping the mountain community to satisfy their Depression-era readers. But local cub reporter Carl Jennings writes what he sees: an ordinary town and a defendant who is probably guilty. The novel resonates with the present: an economic depression; a deadly Japanese earthquake; the rise of political fanatics; and a media culture turning news stories into soap operas for the diversion of the masses. A literary tour de force, The Devil Amongst the Lawyers continues the Ballard saga by examining social issues that go well beyond the fate of one defendant. It is a testament to Sharyn McCrumb''s lyrical and poetic writing about the mountain South.

This hilarious, fast-paced novel follows an all-female NASCAR team, sponsored by Vagenya, a new product that claims to be "like Viagra, but for women," and their male driver, Badger Jenkins, a sexy bad boy who takes them all for a wild ride.

New York Times bestsellers Sharyn McCrumb, Joyce Carol Oates, and Anne Perry each provided a brand-new, never-before-published tale for this unique collection of stories edited by New York Times bestselling author and mystery legend Ed McBain. "The Resurrection Man" by Sharyn McCrumb: During America''s first century, doctors used any means necessary to advance their craft—including dissecting corpses. Sharyn McCrumb brings the South of the 1850s to life in this story of a man who is assigned to dig up bodies to help those that are still alive. "The Corn Maiden" by Joyce Carol Oates: When a twelve-year-old girl is abducted in a small New York town, the crime starts a spiral of destruction and despair as only this master of psychological suspense could write it. "Hostages" by Anne Perry: The bestselling historical mystery author has written a tale of beautiful yet still savage Ireland today. In their eternal struggle for freedom, there is about to be a changing of the guard in the Irish Republican Army. Yet for some, old habits—and honor—still die hard, even at gunpoint.

A busload of unlikely travel companions, thrown together by accident, luck, or choice, begins a modern-day pilgrimage to honor the memory of seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt. With track insider Harley Claymore as tour director, the improbable pilgrims begin a journey of the NASCAR circuit. From Bristol to Daytona, they leave wreaths and heartfelt messages for "The Intimidator."

Forge Books is proud to present an amazing collection of novellas, compiled by New York Times bestselling author Ed McBain. Transgressions is a quintessential classic of never-before-published tales from today''s very best novelists. Featuring: "Walking Around Money" by Donald E. Westlake: The master of the comic mystery is back with an all-new novella featuring hapless crook John Dortmunder, who gets involved in a crime that supposedly no one will ever know happened. Naturally, when something it too good to be true, it usually is, and Dortmunder is going to get to the bottom of this caper before he''s left holding the bag. "Hostages" by Anne Perry: The bestselling historical mystery author has written a tale of beautiful yet still savage Ireland today. In their eternal struggle for freedom, there is about to be a changing of the guard in the Irish Republican Army. Yet for some, old habits-and honor-still die hard, even at gunpoint. "The Corn Maiden" by Joyce Carol Oates: When a fourteen-year-old girl is abducted in a small New York town, the crime starts a spiral of destruction and despair as only this master of psychological suspense could write it. "Archibald Lawless, Anarchist at Large: Walking the Line" by Walter Mosley: Felix Orlean is a New York City journalism student who needs a job to cover his rent. An ad in the paper leads him to Archibald Lawless, and a descent into a shadow world where no one and nothing is as it first seems. "The Resurrection Man" by Sharyn McCrumb: During America''s first century, doctors used any means necessary to advance their craft-including dissecting corpses. Sharyn McCrumb brings the South of the 1850s to life in this story of a man who is assigned to dig up bodies to help those that are still alive. "Merely Hate" by Ed McBain: When a string of Muslim cabdrivers are killed, and the evidence points to another ethnic group, the detectives of the 87th Precinct must hunt down a killer before the city explodes in violence. "The Things They Left Behind" by Stephen King: In the wake of the worst disaster on American soil, one man is coming to terms with the aftermath of the Twin Towers--when he begins finding the things they left behind. "The Ransome Women" by John Farris: A young and beautiful starving artist is looking to catch a break when her idol, the reclusive portraitist John Ransome offers her a lucrative year-long modeling contract. But how long will her excitement last when she discovers the fate shared by all Ransome''s past subjects? "Forever" by Jeffery Deaver: Talbot Simms is an unusual cop-he''s a statistician with the Westbrook County Sheriff Department. When two wealthy couples in the county commit suicide one right after the other, he thinks that it isn''t suicide-it''s murder, and he''s going to find how who was behind it, and how the did it. "Keller''s Adjustment" by Lawrence Block: Everyone''s favorite hit man is back in MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block''s novella, where the philosophical Keller deals out philosophy and murder on a meandering road trip from one end of the America to the other. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Disguising herself as a boy to join the Union army alongside her husband, Malinda Blalock raids the farms of Confederate sympathizers and promotes the efforts of governor Zebulon Vance, who would protect Appalachian interests.

Folksinger Lark McCourry is haunted by the memory of a song. As a child she heard it from her relatives in the North Carolina mountains, and she knows that song has been in her family since 1759, when her ancestor, nine-year-old Malcolm MacQuarry, kidnapped from the Scottish island of Islay, learned it aboard an English ship. The song accompanied young Malcolm when he made his way to Morristown, New Jersey, where he apprentices with an attorney, became a lawyer himself, and fought in the American Revolution. The song went with Malcom in 1790, when he left his family and travelled the Wilderness Road to homestead in western North Carolina, where he remarried and raised a second family.

When forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson becomes the official P.I. for her brother Bill''s fledgling Virginia law firm, she quickly takes on two complex cases. Eleanor Royden, a perfect lawyer''s wife for twenty years, has shot her ex-husband and his wife in cold blood. And Donna Jean Morgan is implicated in the death of her Bible-thumping bigamist husband. Bill''s feminist firebrand partner, A. P. Hill, does her damnedest for Eleanor, an abused wife in denial, and Bill gallantly defends Donna Jean. Meanwhile, Elizabeth''s forensic expertise, including her special knowledge of poisons, gives her the most challenging case of her career. . . .

In the Appalachians, a historian writing on Katie Wyler, a young woman kidnapped from the area by Indians in 1789, sets out to retrace her tragic journey. He is unaware her spirit haunts the hills, nor is he aware that an escaped convict is on the loose. By the author of Bimbos of the Death Sun.

A tragedy shocks a Tennessee town, and a woman known to have premonitions believes more death will follow.

Elizabeth MacPherson returns from England just in time to become involved in a case involving stolen Confederate gold.