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Title: McCrumb stumbles under pressure
Review: After the much deserved, raving reviews of her earlier work, it is glaringly obvious while reading this novel that McCrumb is trying too hard to live up to her own standards, and the results lead to a very disappointing effort. This author is a "natural" storyteller, and that's why her previous books were so fresh and applauded. While reading The Rosewood Casket, the reader is often aware of the author's erratic attemtps to please the critics, and this truly effects the flow and believability of her natural storytelling. There are many groan inducing passages throughout the novel, many highly forced and completely unbelievable, and many appears to be rushed without much thought being put into them. The overall feeling after completion is that it was basically a very silly and mediocre tale, laced with moments of the author's natural gifts, alas, fleeting moments, but, not nearly enough to ever recommend this book.
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