Nevermore: Unquiet Grave, When We Were Orphans, Orient Express, Crossbones Yard, Discourtesy of Death

Reported by Ambrea

Set at the turn of the century in Greenbrier, West Virginia, The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb is a masterful retelling of an infamous legend—and a murder than shook a small town to its core.  Shortly after the death of her daughter, Zona, Mary Jane Heaster visits the county prosecutor and claims the ghost of her daughter has appeared, saying she was murdered.  When an autopsy proves this to be true, Greenbrier is thrown into turmoil and headlines are awash with stories of the Greenbrier Ghost.  Switching between the perspectives of Mary Jane and James P.D. Gardner, the first black attorney to practice law in West Virginia, The Unquiet Grave, according to our Nevermore reader, is an incredibly fascinating novel.  Not only does McCrumb’s book draw on the history of the region, it tells a compelling story that’s sure to leave readers clamoring for more.  Our reader highly recommended it to Nevermore, saying she finished it within a few days because it was simply that good.

Next, Nevermore checked out When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro.  Christopher Banks was born in Shanghai, but, when he is orphaned at the tender age of nine, he’s sent to live in England.  More than twenty years later, Christopher has become a renowned detective and he returns to Shanghai to solve the mystery of his parents’ suspicious disappearance.  But, as the cover points out, “within the layers of his narrative is slowly revealed what he can’t, or won’t, see:  that his memory...is not unaffected by his childhood tragedies; that his powers of perception...can be blinding as well as enlightening; and that the simplest desires—a child’s for his parents, a man’s for understanding—may give rise to the most complicated truths.”  Our reader said When We Were Orphans was very good; in fact, she named Ishiguro as her new favorite author, saying he always published incredible works.  Insightful and imaginative, this novel is a fascinating look at loss, discovery, memory and desire.  Our reader highly recommended it.

Nevermore also took a look at The Discourtesy of Death by William Brodrick, a suspenseful mystery set in Britain that dives back into the world of Father Anselm, a lawyer turned monk.  When Father Anselm receives a letter accusing Peter Henderson of murder, he knows he must uncover the truth if he hopes to expose a killer—and stop a series of dangerous events that will inevitably lead to even more spilled blood.  Our reader said The Discourtesy of Death was a fine mystery; however, she noted it was filled with philosophical musing and it had a penchant to develop slowly.  She offered it to her fellow mystery readers, but she didn’t give it a high recommendation, saying she “honestly found the [history of the] author more interesting than the book.”

Next, Nevermore shared a new book by Kate Rhodes titled Crossbones Yard.  In this series debut, readers are introduced to Alice Quentin, a London psychologist with more family baggage than she would like to admit.  When Alice stumbles across a murder (quite literally), she finds herself drawn into a murder case that will put her—and everyone one she’s ever cared about—into danger.  Our reader said she’d never checked out any of Rhodes' novels, but “I will look for more from her.”  Crossbones Yard turned out to be a great mystery story, our reader continued, and the end was “pretty amazing.”  Rhodes' novel was passed on and quickly snatched up by the next person.

Last, Nevemore rounded out our meeting with a look at a classic mystery:  Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.  The tenth novel in the Hercule Poirot series, Murder on the Orient Express recounts Detective Poirot’s trip on the luxurious Orient Express as he returns to Belgium—and the unexpectedly grisly murder that pits Poirot against one of the most ingenious killers he’s ever faced.  Our reader picked up Christie’s novel, because she wanted to read it before she watched the new movie.  She said it’s the perfect winter story.  “You can feel the cold and the snow,” she said, noting that the novel is incredibly descriptive and wonderfully detailed.  Thus far, she has loved reading Murder on the Orient Express.  She’s currently taking notes on characters and trying to decipher clues, saying, “I’m going to figure it out eventually.”

Nevermore: Deep Dark Descending, Christmas Hope, Raven Rock, Triple Agent,

Reported by Kristin

The Deep Dark Descending by Allen Eskens took a Nevermore reader on a thrilling and most enjoyable ride.  Homicide detective Max Rupert has a tragic past, losing his wife in a hit-and-run accident.  While still grieving, Max dedicates himself to his job, but what happens when he learns that the accident that took Jenni’s life was not actually an accident, but murder?  Retreating to a frozen lake near the Canadian border, Max must come to terms with the past as he seeks out the person who killed his wife.

Another reader had enjoyed Anne Perry’s No Graves As Yet and found it to be a good murder mystery.  In the spirit of the season, she picked up Perry’s A Christmas Hope, and was somewhat disappointed.  In Victorian England, Claudine Burroughs is unhappily married, but finds purpose in volunteering for a clinic for downtrodden women.  Of course her husband doesn’t approve of this, especially as Claudine is quickly drawn into the murder of a young prostitute during the Christmas season.  Our reader didn’t find much closure in the book, and much preferred Perry’s more vigorous mysteries.

Thinking back to her time working in the United States government, a reader just had to check out Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself—While the Rest of Us Die by Garrett M. Graff.  Beginning during the Cold War, officials carefully laid plans in order to evacuate many individuals, from the President down to smaller but still important government employees, in the event of a terrorist or nuclear attack on the Capitol.  Using thousands of formerly classified documents and interviewing many current and former employees in the Continuity of Government (COG) program, Graff has plumbed the depths of governmental secrecy and paranoia, and laid it out for the public to see.

The Triple Agent: The Al-Qaeda Mole Who Infiltrated the CIA by Joby Warrick made another reader think deeply about the wars in the Middle East.  Jordanian spy Humam Khalil al-Balawi managed to make his way to a very high level of al-Qaeda.  Turning to the CIA, he then provided intelligence on the terrorist organization, but eventually betrayed the United States by detonating a thirty-pound suicide bomb, killing seven CIA agents.  Our reader was disturbed by the massive loss of life and so much hate on all sides.

Finally, our last reader enjoyed The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb.  The author retells a story based on historical fact, that of young Zona Heaster who was murdered by her new husband, Erasmus Trout Shue.  Set in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, the Greenbrier ghost has been passed down as a folktale.  While Zona’s death is first deemed caused by a fall down the stairs, Zona appears to her mother Mary Jane and tells her that her death was no accident.  Our reader said that as always, McCrumb researched her story meticulously and told the story so beautifully.

Nevermore: Six Wakes, Lady Bird, It's All Relative, Man from the Train, Truevine, Unquiet Grave

Nevermore members read widely, and this week one reader read Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty, a science fiction murder mystery.  The Dormire is a sleeper ship, carrying thousands of colonists from a war-torn, atmosphere-wrecked, socially disintegrating Earth to a new start on the planet Artemis.  But when Maria Arena and her crewmates awaken, as clones of their original selves, finding blood floating through the air leads them to believe that their former selves have been murdered.  Our reader greatly enjoyed this book and said that he could really see someone making this novel into a movie.

Turning to American history, another reader enjoyed Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson by Jan Jarboe Russell.  This revealing biography of the First Lady shows how much she contributed to LBJ’s presidency in the midst of the Civil Rights movement.  Conversations with family members and political associates make this a well-rounded picture of President and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson.  Our reader said that she enjoyed the book and that Lady Bird was a lovely person.

It’s All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree by A. J. Jacobs was enjoyed by yet another reader, as the author has explored the DNA connectivity of the worldwide community.  After Jacobs received an email from an eighth cousin who had been able to connect 80,000 relatives, he began a globe spanning journey to explore the far flung branches of his family tree.  Our reader enjoyed the humor, as Jacobs told his own family stories within the scientific explanations of how we are all related.

Our next reader began to read The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James, but sadly could not finish it.  Although the book was praised by other critics, our reader found that it was simply murder after murder, bludgeon after bludgeon.  She stated emphatically:  “It has 461 pages of murder and not all of them were near the train tracks.”

Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother’s Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy shocked another reader as it recounted the story of two albino African-American brothers who were stolen from their family in 1899 and forced to be part of a circus sideshow for almost thirty years.  George and Willie Muse were depicted as caricatures of themselves as they traveled the world with the circus, and eventually reunited with their mother.  Our reader said that it was an extremely well-researched book and that she learned a lot about Virginian society and race relations in the early 1900’s.

 Another novel was enjoyed by another reader, Abraham’s Well by Sharon Ewell Foster.  The story centers around the Trail of Tears, the removal of Native Americans from the southeastern United States and their forced march to what is now Oklahoma.  Foster’s characters are not just Native American, but Black Cherokee African Americans, whose bloodlines were also mixed with white slave owners.  The Cherokee removal is here told from the point of a young girl, Armentia, who experiences tragedy and loss as her family is forced from North Carolina to Oklahoma.

Finally, The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb told the story of Zona Heaster, married to Trout Shue in 1896 and dead a few short months later.  Zona appears in a waking dream to her mother Mary Jane, insisting that she was murdered, and Mary Jane has no choice but to pursue justice for her daughter.  Set in recently created West Virginia, the story jumps in time from the actual happenings to a recounting by an aging lawyer more than thirty years later.  Our reader said that everything McCrumb writes is wonderful, and she only wishes the author had included maps in this novel based on historical facts.

The Unquiet Grave by Sharyn McCrumb

Reviewed by Kristin

Young and headstrong, Zona Heaster lived in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, round about 1896.  West Virginia was still a young state, fresh from the Civil War, at least in the memories of its older population.  Zona may have been young as well, but she was past twenty and ready to get married when the first opportunity presented itself.  When charmer Edward Erasmus Shue, or “Trout,” came along, Zona jumped at the chance, no matter what reservations her mama may have had.

A few months later, Mrs. Zona Shue is dead from an apparent fall down the stairs.

Mary Jane Heaster, Zona’s mother, never did trust that Trout.  When Zona had found out that he had two previous wives, it didn’t bother her none, but Mary Jane was afraid for her girl.  When Zona is brought back to her hometown for burying, Trout acts the grieving husband and insists that no one look closely at the body.  Soon after the funeral, Mary Jane has an unexpected visitor: Zona, telling her mother that her death was not natural.

Decades later, James P.D. Gardner recounts to his doctor what it was like to be an African-American attorney assisting in the defense of Edward Shue accused of murdering his young bride Zona.  Mr. Gardner is going through a tough time himself, remanded to the segregated insane asylum after a suicide attempt, and his story is intertwined with that of the Heasters and the Shues.

Sharyn McCrumb paints a rich narrative in her usual way:  the characters are strong, the settings are vivid, and she draws this novel from historical facts.  Zona’s story is well known in the West Virginia hollows and ridges as the tale of “The Greenbrier Ghost.”  Although long believed to be folklore, McCrumb followed the documents back into time, finding census records, death certificates, court records, maps and more to prove that there was a real Zona who died under suspicious circumstances.  McCrumb can always be counted upon to portray her Appalachian characters realistically with authentic voices that may as well have come straight from 1896.

McCrumb may be best known for her Appalachian Ballad novels, but here she proves once again that she has an unerring sense for a good story, and the ability to tell it in a way that draws  readers in, and keeps them wishing for more.