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12th out of 219 books
—
377 voters
The Rosewood Casket (Ballad #4)
Randall Stargill lies dying on his southern Appalachian farm, and his four sons have come home to build him a coffin from the cache of rosewood he long has hoarded for the special purpose. Meanwhile, like a vulture hovering over prey, a local real estate developer is readying an offer for the farm that will be extremely hard for the heirs to refuse as soon as the old man i...more
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
April 1st 1997
by Signet
(first published 1991)
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My first time to read Sharyn McCrumb, but a favorite author of my sisters, so I read "The Rosewood Casket". The story starts out with clarity and promise. The prologue is intriguing enough to pull a reader in. Ms. McCrumb, very vividly, describes the wooded southern area and captures the people so well. I truly felt as though I was in the mystic and beautiful place. The story continues with an elderly man who lives alone and needs to be hospitalized His family, all sons and their wives, come fro...more
I really liked this story. I loved the feel of the book--like I was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair watching the clouds in the sky, listening to an old southern grandmother tell the story. It just had a really pleasant, easy-going feeling. But it wasn't just a pleasant, easy-going book. The story really moved along and I was never bored or tempted to skim. I liked the flashbacks that interrupted the story for just a minute and told some of the backstory. Instead of just being distracting...more
I almost gave up on this book. To be honest I found the first half to be very boring. Some of the historical parts on the mountains & the American frontier was interesting but some was just tedious to read. As I stated before on a past reading update: This author sure has an obsession with Daniel Boone! lol I will say that I learned about who he was and that was sort of interesting. I can also tell by the author's writing that she loves her mountains! I read more about the author after readi...more
Meh.
In a nutshell, this book is about how what goes around comes around; in the context of this novel, if you take someone's land, someone will eventually come and take your land (or the land of your future offspring). McCrumb uses the sad story of the Americas to illustrate a moral point, reaching back to Daniel Boone's days of European settlers stealing land from Native Americans (though somehow he's revered, right?) and following this thread to 20th century America, where a family -- presumab...more
In a nutshell, this book is about how what goes around comes around; in the context of this novel, if you take someone's land, someone will eventually come and take your land (or the land of your future offspring). McCrumb uses the sad story of the Americas to illustrate a moral point, reaching back to Daniel Boone's days of European settlers stealing land from Native Americans (though somehow he's revered, right?) and following this thread to 20th century America, where a family -- presumab...more
Set in southern Appalachia of Tennessee, this mystery combines folklore, family tales of past generations with modern day life in the hill country beset with failing farms and greedy land developers. The patriarch of the Stargill family is dying in the old farmstead and his 4 sons are scattered with their one lives, but they come back when they learn that their father is in the hospital in a coma. He has left a list of instructions to be carried out including the building of a casket by the boys...more
The four distant and very different Stargill brothers are called back to their mountain farm home in Appalachia to see to their dying father. He was a hard unemotional man, but they obey his wishes to build him a casket. The men awaken to their mountain roots and skeletons start tumbling out of their father's closet. It's time for the ghosts of the past to come to light, so they can rest.
This book is high on atmosphere of the Appalachia mountain living and including a couple characters who have...more
This book is high on atmosphere of the Appalachia mountain living and including a couple characters who have...more
Four brothers come home to attend their father in his last illness. One of the things their father asks them to do is to use some fine rosewood that he has stored in the barn to make a casket for him. The brothers have all been estranged from their father and from each other, and the tension builds as their week together goes on, with their various wives and girlfriends not getting along very well either. The climax comes when the daughter of one brother’s fiancé is lost in the woods at the sam...more
My introduction to McCrumb's Appalachian ballad series. Loved its intermingling of current life, Anglo-Appalachian history and Cherokee belief. Stumbled across the book as my Mother was undergoing gallbladder surgery and the complication of a botched surgery.She almost died and I waited until I knew she was okay before suggesting this title. I told her that I felt it would have been extremely insensitive for me to send her this book by a writer I had just discovered, given the title, until I kne...more
Sharyn McCrumb is fast becoming one of my favorite authors! The Appalachian Mountains are not one of the places I naturally gravitate to for reading, but this is the second (or maybe third) book of hers set in that area, and I like each one better. I especially like the character of Nora Bonesteel, who appears in each of these books. Nora has The Sight, and it always adds an interesting dimension to the plot.
This one, as they all did, ends in a way I would never have predicted. Did I like the en...more
This one, as they all did, ends in a way I would never have predicted. Did I like the en...more
Magic stuff. I forget how good a writer McCrumb is between books. She weaves history and culture and the real past together with a fictional present and comes up with unputdownable stories that become tales not just of a few characters but of the whole society of Appalachia.
This is the story of what happens when old man Randall Stargill is dying and his four sons and their partners gather at the family farm in the mountains to carry out his last wish, to build him the rosewood casket of the tit
...more
This is the first book I've read by Sharyn McCrumb,as well as my first introduction to the background setting of the Appalachian Mountains.
I particularly enjoyed the part Nora Bonesteel played in this story, the well-developed plot, and the variety of 'interesting' personalities in this family, who, incidentally, remind me very much of families where I grew up in Northern Ontario - where 'second sight' is taken for granted, and never questioned!
Excellent story with a most unexpected ending - Su...more
I particularly enjoyed the part Nora Bonesteel played in this story, the well-developed plot, and the variety of 'interesting' personalities in this family, who, incidentally, remind me very much of families where I grew up in Northern Ontario - where 'second sight' is taken for granted, and never questioned!
Excellent story with a most unexpected ending - Su...more
I’d just read The Old, Weird America and Marcus mentions author Sharyn McCrumb and her Ballad Mystery books. I was doing laundry and there are often shelves of books at my local laundromat. I saw The Rosewood Casket, recognized McCrumb’s name and figured it was meant to be,
Not a bad read at all. The characterization, especially of the men, struck me as a bit forced but this book is highly readable. It’s a good, convoluted story that kept me turning pages. Not sure I’d read one of McCrumb’s other...more
Not a bad read at all. The characterization, especially of the men, struck me as a bit forced but this book is highly readable. It’s a good, convoluted story that kept me turning pages. Not sure I’d read one of McCrumb’s other...more
http://www.gerberadaisydiaries.com/20...
The Stargill boys have all returned home at the new s that their father, Randall, is dying. During the time they wait for “the end” they confront past sibling conflicts, rivalries, and unanswered family questions. They must also solve the mysterious appearance of a “box of bones” given to them by a neighbor. Thus begins a story of ghostly legends, family secrets, and a dying man’s shrouded history.
The Rosewood Casket was a nice blend of historical fiction...more
The Stargill boys have all returned home at the new s that their father, Randall, is dying. During the time they wait for “the end” they confront past sibling conflicts, rivalries, and unanswered family questions. They must also solve the mysterious appearance of a “box of bones” given to them by a neighbor. Thus begins a story of ghostly legends, family secrets, and a dying man’s shrouded history.
The Rosewood Casket was a nice blend of historical fiction...more
THE ROSEWOOD CASKET - VG
McCrumb, Sharyn - 4th in Ballad series
Old man Stargill is dying, and his four grown sons are called home to the small mountain town where they grew up to say good-bye and carry out their daddy's dying wish: that his "boys" build him a rosewood casket. But a dying man's wishes aren't the only problems the splintered Stargills are forced to face. Emotions ride high, and tempers flare because if it isn't a vulture-like land developer going after the family farm, or old lady...more
McCrumb, Sharyn - 4th in Ballad series
Old man Stargill is dying, and his four grown sons are called home to the small mountain town where they grew up to say good-bye and carry out their daddy's dying wish: that his "boys" build him a rosewood casket. But a dying man's wishes aren't the only problems the splintered Stargills are forced to face. Emotions ride high, and tempers flare because if it isn't a vulture-like land developer going after the family farm, or old lady...more
THE ROSEWOOD CASKET is a powerful novel. An early Ballad novel, each of the characters felt real and well-developed. I really couldn’t put the book down until I finished it. Dovey Stallard’s tragedy was moving as was the story of Randall Stargill’s sister. But the novel is hopeful as well. I appreciated the way McCrumb wove together history, legend and modern day problems. SHE WALKS THESE HILLS was the first book in this series that I read years ago and it blew my mind.
I enjoyed this book very much. An interesting story about an old man dying, his four sons coming back home for his death and funeral, and everything else that happens. It was good to run into Sheriff Arrowood and Deputy LeDonne again.
The author does a good job of weaving the past and present together, revealing just a little at a time. It keeps you reading on to find out "just one more thing". A quick read because of that.
I would recommend.
The author does a good job of weaving the past and present together, revealing just a little at a time. It keeps you reading on to find out "just one more thing". A quick read because of that.
I would recommend.
I wasn't sure I was going to like this book, based on the dust jacket. It seemed a little unsure whether it was a mystery novel or a ghost story. But I found I really loved the characters as they developed, and I was happy to keep reading. There's certain mystery novels that somehow make the reader feel safe and warm, even if there are elements in the story of death and evil. When I can find them, I read manor house mysteries for that feeling. Now I'll also be looking for more of Sharyn McCrumb'...more
This book is a much smoother read than the previous one I read, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. As in that book, Nora Bonesteel figures prominently. The Appalachias were much less of a character than they were in HBD, though still beautifully described.
I enjoyed being in the same world previously created, and some of the characters in the periphery were recognizable as more major characters from that previous book.
I enjoyed being in the same world previously created, and some of the characters in the periphery were recognizable as more major characters from that previous book.
This is an older book but this author has been highly recommended to me, so I picked this up in our building's laundry room. I really enjoyed the characters and the beautiful descriptions of the Tennessee mountains. There's a mystery and even a hint of the paranormal, but for me the storytelling was the most compelling aspect. I will definitely look for more from this author, especially in this series.
This novel has a touch of the supernatural, which does not ordinarily appeal to me. However, it is not a major plot device and does not detract from the rest of the story. The setting is east Tennessee, and the environment is well-described and woven throughout the narrative. Characters are well-drawn and have a kind of gritty feel. Highly recommended.
This book set in Appalachia channeled for me my father's parents and great aunts and uncles whose ancestors came to Arkansas from Appalachia. There was a nice connection to Diana Gabbaldon's tales of the Scottish Jacobites who settled in the American South, too. It was a wistful tale of how we never really own the land--we are just temporary occupiers.
Another wonderful development of character, family relationships and history, in a setting that takes the reader right along through the story, I loved this book. While the casket is being made on the home farm, the story takes the reader through family relationships with a beautiful closing. Makes me want to read more by this author.
Part of a series that takes place in the Smokies. Haven't read others, but it didn't seem to impact this one. Lots of local atmosphere and history. Four brothers come home to eastern Tennessee when their father is dying and attempt to fulfill his dying wish that they build him a rosewood casket. There's a slight mystery and someone gets shot, but this is more about atmosphere.
The Rosewood Casket is a very interesting novel about true events of the Appalachian Mountains. I love reading books by Sharyn McCrumb because they are always so well written you feel you there during those times yourself. I have been to a couple of book signing she has come to in my area and she tells about her research she does before writing the novels. I highly recommend her books to any who like historical novels of the Appalachians. Also, if you get a chance to go to her book signings you...more
"Well that was weird," was the comment I made to my husband when I finished this book. The book itself was filled with McCrumb's lyrical descriptions of the Appalachians but the ending seemed a bit contrived and rushed. And more than a bit off. But that's par for the course in her novels, so I'm giving it a pass.
A number of intriguing elements intertwined through this book. The narrative lost focus about a third of the way through. McCrumb probably could have made this a masterpiece if she had set it aside and went back to it later for serious editing and reworking. It's really too bad she didn't.
When a man dies in the mountains of North Carolina, he leaves instructions that his sons, who've been estranged from each other, must build his casket from Rosewood he's stored in his barn for just that purpose. During the construction project, the sons' relationships are rejoined.
I liked the book. A dying man's estranged sons return to his farm as he lay dying, following his request to build his casket out of rosewood. Wives and a girlfriend are also along to add to the disagreements among everyone there. It is clear that the sons spent their lives trying to please a cold father, and now both resent and enjoy doing this last request of his. They also seem to have scores to settle with each other. Add to this a feisty farmer's daughter, an unscrupulous real estate agent,...more
I finished this book over a decade ago, and I still think of it from time to time. Sharyn McCrumb does a wonderful job of bringing the Appalachian culture to life and making her characters very real. The mystery packs a punch, too.
When I intellectually look at this series, I'm not sure why they are such satisfying reads (although, oddly, the even ones more than the odd numbered ones, so far), but I just love the evocation of the area, the people, and the intertwining lives.
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Sharyn McCrumb is an American writer whose books celebrate the history and folklore of Appalachia. Educated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Virginia Tech, she has also taught Appalachian studies. She is married to David McCrumb, a corporate environmental director, and has two children, Laura and Spencer.
-Wikipedia
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Feb 11, 2012 06:43am