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Title: She has the right "take" on Appalachia
Review: Sharyn McCrumb is doing for Appalachia what Tony Hillerman has done for the Navajos. She presents a realistic picture of these fine, brave, proud people without the grotesqueness of Cold Mountain or the distortion of Deliverance. This is not so much a mystery novel as it is a novel that happens to have a mystery in it. Her characters are well-rounded and the setting is true. My only quibble with it is her vagueness in the matter of firearms and their use. I would like to have seen a closer connection between the use of the rosewood casket and the actual ballad. Otherwise, this is a good one.
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