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178th out of 419 books
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401 voters
The Devil Amongst the Lawyers (Ballad #8)
In 1935, when Erma Morton, a beautiful young woman with a teaching degree, is charged with the murder of her father in a remote Virginia mountain community, the case becomes a cause célèbre for the national press.
Eager for a case to replace the Lindbergh trial in the public’s imagination, the journalists descend on the mountain county intent on infusing their stories with...more
Eager for a case to replace the Lindbergh trial in the public’s imagination, the journalists descend on the mountain county intent on infusing their stories with...more
Hardcover, 336 pages
Published
June 22nd 2010
by Thomas Dunne Books
(first published June 15th 2010)
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The Devil Amongst the Lawyers is historical fiction based on the 1935 trial of Edith Maxwell in Wise County, Virginia. What I found so interesting about this novel is that the trial is just an afterthought. The real story lies in the journalists who come to cover it, some honestly and some not so honestly.
Erma Morton is a beautiful, young schoolteacher accused of a hideous crime...the murder of her father, Pollock. Is she guilty or innocent? To McCrumb, it hardly matters, as we do not find out u...more
Erma Morton is a beautiful, young schoolteacher accused of a hideous crime...the murder of her father, Pollock. Is she guilty or innocent? To McCrumb, it hardly matters, as we do not find out u...more
I enjoyed this book, but it provided proof to me that Sharyn McCrumb has perhaps peaked as a novelist (or that my taste in novels has changed over the years.) I think other parts of the series--The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter comes to mind--are more substantial. This was part of her Appachlachian series, and one of the best parts of the book for me was to read about Nora Bonesteel as a young girl. The meaning of the title wasn't especially clear, though I guess the devils were the big-city jour...more
At first I was thinking this book was a mystery book club possibility, but now I've thought again. I've really liked Sharyn McCrumb's older work and this one did initially draw me in, but it couldn't hold my attention.
There is a murder and a court case, but the brunt of the book is about the media (newspaper reporters, since it's the 30's) and their influence. At first, I thought the take on media creating stories instead of reporting them was thought-provoking. Unfortunately, that drum was beat...more
There is a murder and a court case, but the brunt of the book is about the media (newspaper reporters, since it's the 30's) and their influence. At first, I thought the take on media creating stories instead of reporting them was thought-provoking. Unfortunately, that drum was beat...more
Sharyn McCrumb's latest Ballad Novel is somewhat different than her others in that it is set almost entirely in the past with the exception of the ending. I enjoyed it very much. Although the setting was a murder trial in Southwest Virginia at the turn of the last century, the book was not really about the trial.
Sharyn based her book on a true story of a young teacher who was arrested and tried for killing her father. The book explores the role of the media in the trial. It gives a true but per...more
Sharyn based her book on a true story of a young teacher who was arrested and tried for killing her father. The book explores the role of the media in the trial. It gives a true but per...more
I've enjoyed McCrumb's ballad series immensely, but this one is not up to par because it has an axe to grind - the stereotypical treatment of rural people by reporters from the big city.
Several reporters come to Wise County, Virginia to cover the trial of a young teacher, accused of killing her father. Two in particular have a conscious attitude that they will write their stories to meet what they assume are their readers' expectations: the story of poor uneducated hillbillies punishing a young...more
Several reporters come to Wise County, Virginia to cover the trial of a young teacher, accused of killing her father. Two in particular have a conscious attitude that they will write their stories to meet what they assume are their readers' expectations: the story of poor uneducated hillbillies punishing a young...more
I've read other Sharon McCrumb books that I've liked more. She rather over-states her case in this one about journalists having been neither kind nor accurate in depicting Appalachian residents as stereotyped rustics without a clue. I don't have any trouble believing the press is biased nor in believing its power to distort facts and manipulate events, but after listening to her drum it in dozens of different way, I felt like shouting, "OK, I get it, enough already."
I'm also not into mysticism s...more
I'm also not into mysticism s...more
This was not as compelling a read as McCrumb's earlier works. It was still fun to reconnect with Nora Bonesteel and the mountain culture of VA and TN. For example she describes a 1935 train schedule in VA. as having to make more stops than a dog at a tree farm. Or the supposed code of the hills she describes as---You don't take charity,You don't meddle in your neighbors' business, you take care of your own, and you don't betray the family to outsiders ever. This code helps explain the main chara...more
Ouch. This is a painful book, but terrifically written. McCrumb is one of the few authors who can overcome my literary prejudices and make me love everything she does. Whenever a new title comes out, I snatch it and run to the nearest corner to read nonstop.
This book is about the relativity of truth, conveyed through the eyes of several characters. Most of them are journalists, and some of their takes are scary because they're so realistic and human that it makes you doubt the past, present, and...more
This book is about the relativity of truth, conveyed through the eyes of several characters. Most of them are journalists, and some of their takes are scary because they're so realistic and human that it makes you doubt the past, present, and...more
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Books in this series are historical fiction, usually involving someone getting killed, set in the Appalachians. I have read the whole series and remember really enjoying some of these books; I think The Ballad of Frankie Silver was one. This one -- not so much. It's long on character and setting but short on plot. It's a pretty simple story that could be told in a paragraph -- young woman on trial for murdering her father; East coast journalists descend on small mountain town and spin the story,...more
Sharon McCrumb takes an actual event and creates a retelling of the event. In this case, Sharon recreates the 1935 murder trial of a young woman in Wise County, Virginia. Sharon McCrumb weaves a tale with complicated stitches enhancing the beauty of the work. The book begins with a prologue set in 1916, about a circus elephant and the power of a newspaper. That theme, the power of the written word of a newspaper, dominates the novel. Nora Bonesteel, a constant figure in McCrumb's books, appears...more
Always enjoy Sharyn McCrumb and her incredibly beautiful eons-old mountains. I love being in them, listening to them, smelling their air, filling my eyes; and if I can't actually be there, then reading about them is next best. I also happen to like her use of the reporters to move the story, their Mark Twain view of the facts which they are ostensibly dispatching, the frailness of 'morality' when it comes to success and the necessity of turning a buck for one's employer & thus one's self, ho...more
A definite *** book, no more, no less. This is not a good addition to the ballad books. For one thing, if the title is part of a ballad, I don't know the song. For another, it rather dragged on. Although the central character was Carl, a young reporter for a Johnson City newspaper in the mid-'30s, MS McCrumb worked too hard to get Nora Bonesteel and her 'sight' into the novel. It didn't just sort of flow naturally. The plotline is that a young girl in western VA was accused of murdering her fath...more
I won this book through first reads. I liked the combination of court drama and history, although I thought that some of the bits about the reporters was a bit heavy handed. The pacing was also a little off. Things builds up over the course of the book and then they end in what seems like a small and quiet way. All of the things that seem like they're going to be important to the ending turn out to not matter quite so much.
Despite the pacing issues, I actually enjoyed this book quite a bit. I lo...more
Despite the pacing issues, I actually enjoyed this book quite a bit. I lo...more
I had a hard time getting into this book because of some distrubing animal cruelty at the beginning. Now I am almost finished, and I can't put it down. A very timely, very well-written, very disturbing book. What is valued most in our society? The truth, or what we are led to believe? Even though the story takes place in 1935, I see these issues played out in politics and media all around me. Kind of disturbing for someone who grew up with the journalist heroes of Watergate.
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I have been a Sharyn McCrumb fan since I read "Bimbos of the Death Sun" many years ago. I loved her Elizabeth MacPherson novels, but (like so many of her fans), no character captured me quite like Nora Bonesteel.
In "The Devil Amongst the Lawyers," Nora Bonesteel is a 12-year-old girl, going to help her journalist cousin Carl report on a murder trial. Nora has the Sight, and Carl hopes the girl can provide him with some insight since the defendant, Erma, is not allowed to talk to any reporters wh...more
In "The Devil Amongst the Lawyers," Nora Bonesteel is a 12-year-old girl, going to help her journalist cousin Carl report on a murder trial. Nora has the Sight, and Carl hopes the girl can provide him with some insight since the defendant, Erma, is not allowed to talk to any reporters wh...more
I waffled between 2 and 3 stars on this one and finally settled on 2 since it summed up my feelings about the book: it was OK. It had the makings of a good story but never really quite got there. The story focuses on a group of newspaper reporters who are covering the 1935 trial of Erma Morton, who is accused of murdering her father. The reporters hail from the big city and are less than thrilled with the assignment that brings them to a small mountain town. They are openly contemptuous of the a...more
Well, I gave it 3 stars, not sure why. I've never read this author before, and this did not inspire me to read any other of her many books. On the other hand, I read it quite quickly, which is a sign to me that I did like it. I think my objection is that I was totally misled (sp?) about the subject. I was under the impression that this was a fictionalized version of a true story of a 1935 murder trial near Abington, VA (this was a one book, one community choice for Fred. County, where everyone r...more
Sharyn McCrumb has returned to Southwestern Va and the familiar characters of her earlier Ballad novels. The time setting is different. In McCrumbs earlier Ballad novels there is an almost equal division betwen the present day and an historical event or legend. This novel spends the majority of its time in the mid 1930's.A relative of Nora Bonesteel, Kyle, is the lesser acknowledged tie to the present.
Nora Bonesteel is 12 years old and gifted with "the sight" when her cousin Carl Jennings come...more
Nora Bonesteel is 12 years old and gifted with "the sight" when her cousin Carl Jennings come...more
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What a treat to have a new Ballad novel from Sharyn McCrumb. Although everyone's favorite Nora Bonesteel has only a small role in this story, I loved the book.
The devil of the title is NYC reporters who have come to a small mountain town in Virginia to cover a murder trial. A local schoolteacher is charged with the murder of her own father, a drunk and apparently altogether nasty man. Problem is all those reporters expect to find backward hillbillies living in shacks brewing moonshine in the ba...more
The devil of the title is NYC reporters who have come to a small mountain town in Virginia to cover a murder trial. A local schoolteacher is charged with the murder of her own father, a drunk and apparently altogether nasty man. Problem is all those reporters expect to find backward hillbillies living in shacks brewing moonshine in the ba...more
By far, the worst out of the series.
I think the McCrumb really lost something by deciding to stick with a single plot line. This book only follows the story of a young woman accused (maybe wrongfully, maybe not) of murder. In short, it's a re-hash of The Ballad of Frankie Silver, set around a hundred years later. However, instead of focusing on the sheriff and lawyers in the case, it tells the story through the newspaper men. There's the national reporters who have the story including vivid desc...more
I think the McCrumb really lost something by deciding to stick with a single plot line. This book only follows the story of a young woman accused (maybe wrongfully, maybe not) of murder. In short, it's a re-hash of The Ballad of Frankie Silver, set around a hundred years later. However, instead of focusing on the sheriff and lawyers in the case, it tells the story through the newspaper men. There's the national reporters who have the story including vivid desc...more
Had this been the first of McCrumb's ballad Books I chose to read, I would probably not seek out the rest of them. "The Devil Amongst the Laywers" has none of the charm of the previous books. In fact, the first quarter of it is repetitious, almost tedious. Only the introduction of Nora Bonesteel as a child ties this book to the Ballad group. And what does the title have to do with anything?
"Devil" is ostensibly based on a real case. Had McCrumb fleshed it out (as she did with "The Ballad of Fran...more
"Devil" is ostensibly based on a real case. Had McCrumb fleshed it out (as she did with "The Ballad of Fran...more
Nora Bonesteel makes an appearance in Ch. 2. Well, not in the flesh, but in another character's pondering/recollection. She's only 12 years old. Can this be anything other than a great sign? Of course, I was already hooked by the novel, and stayed hooked until I'd finished the thing.
Sharyn McCrumb is SO good. There is a mystery here, and it is quite satisfying. None the less, the mystery takes second place to, well, place and, of course, people. Although I have never spent time in Appalachia an...more
Sharyn McCrumb is SO good. There is a mystery here, and it is quite satisfying. None the less, the mystery takes second place to, well, place and, of course, people. Although I have never spent time in Appalachia an...more
I did not enjoy this as much as the other Sharyn McCrumb books I have read. The book is based on a 1935 murder case in Wise County, Virginia where a schoolteacher was accused of murdering her father. That case and trial seem less an issue to McCrumb than the way of the press. Several newspaper reporters are sent to cover the case, and McCrumb goes into the background of each so that we can see why they behave as they do. I liked knowing the background of the characters, but felt that McCrumb dwe...more
A little mystery and a lot of commentary on life in the rural mountains of Virginia, Reporters of the day and the trial of a young woman charged with the murder of her father. The year is 1935 and reporters from NY papers have descended on the small mountain town to cover the trial intent on putting their own stamp on the proceedings to get a story. Despite the lack, they are looking for the ramshackle cabins and tired and tattered poor they think will sell the story. Add the reporters personal...more
I liked this book, but didn't think that it was as good as the other "Ballad" novels. It was an interesting introduction to Nora Bonesteel who figures prominently in the other books. The book is about journalists who go to cover a murder trial in a small Virginia mountain town. This provides and interesting view of how the media manipulates the newspaper reader's view of events. One of the city journalists begins to write a description of the town before he's even seen it. The photographer tries...more
This was a good story, although not the story I expected. In 1935, a young school teacher in the remote mountains of Virginia is charged with murdering her father. Because she is beautiful and the story sensational, national reporters are sent to cover the trial, and the young woman’s brother seeks exclusive rights to her story, with the money supposedly going to her defense fund.
The national reporters don’t find the hillbillies living in run down shacks that they expect, so they fabricate them....more
The national reporters don’t find the hillbillies living in run down shacks that they expect, so they fabricate them....more
I listened to this audiobook as a download from the library so didn't have the actual book on hand to see that I was nearing the end. I was really surprised when this period drama about a trial and newspapermen (but no lawyers despite the title) in the 1930s(?) ended abruptly with a confession to the reader by the accused woman and then jumped to a final chapter in current time that sums up what happened to everyone in the story after it ended. Just as I was getting to know all of the characters...more
What a fasinating book. The characters, the main story, the sidebar stories...all wonderful. Just when you think somebody is going to be important, they turn out to be not so much. And the sidebar stories, it would have been so easy to stumble and have them be gratuitous. The ability of the media to slant a story and change the course of justice, it gave me the chills...I will for sure be looking for more novels by this author.
Just as an aside, I don't have the "sight", and I don't know anyone t...more
Just as an aside, I don't have the "sight", and I don't know anyone t...more
Three plus stars. I enjoyed the book. I've loved Sharyn McCrumb since discovering Bimbos of the Death Sun many a year ago, though I am considerably less enamored of her Nascar series for some reason. This was well written, enjoyed the multiple characters centered around the small town murder trial. Loved meeting Nora Bonesteel as a 12 year old. But for the life of me I can't figure why the title focuses on lawyers when the book seems to mostly be about journalists and journalism or where the bal...more
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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.
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“Boondocks' is simply the Tagalog word for mountains.”
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