David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "murder"
The Unquiet Grave
The first Sharyn McCrumb novel I read was THE HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER, part of her Appalachian ballad series, featuring Sheriff Spencer Arrowwood and Nora Bonesteel, an old woman who had the gift of sight. She was a “seer”; she could see into the future. I was hooked, but gradually the stories became more about Nora Bonesteel and the sheriff disappeared. These days McCrumb picks a strange historical happening and fictionalizes it. But she's till writing about the hill people.
THE UNQUIET GRAVE is set in two different era, 1897 and 1930. In 1897, Zona Heaster is murdered by her husband after only a few months of marriage. But she returns as a ghost and tells her mother what her husband did to her. She goes to the county prosecutor and tells him what she saw. Remarkably he believes her, and they dig up the body; Zona had a broken neck as well as finger marks around her neck. This is one of the holes in the story. The doctor who had been called to the scene was not allowed to take a close look at the body as her husband hovered over her.
Then we move ahead to 1930 at the colored asylum for the insane where we meet James P.D. Gardner who defended the husband as second chair. Dr. James Boozer is a psychiatrist at the asylum. The only reason Gardner is there is because he tried to commit suicide after losing his second wife. He tells Boozer about the case where a ghost testified against her murdering husband.
Okay, was there a real case? McCrumb says “The Greenbrier Ghost is West Virginia's best-known tale of the supernatural, but the incident has always been treated as folklore, a jumble of hearsay and supposition built on a handful of facts. McCrumb's original source was from a book of folklore that took up a page and a half, but by the time she was finished researching the incident she had a file of documents six inches thick. The implication is that these census records, birth and death certificates, maps and photographs fired her imagination and THE UNQUIET GRAVE is the result.
I think McCrumb would do herself a service if she brought back the sheriff and Nora Bonesteel. The characters in THE UNQUIET GRAVE are not as vivid as the lawman and the old lady, and some of the plot is just unbelievable as was the part about the county prosecutor agreeing to dig up Zona Heaster based on her mother's claim that she appeared to her as a ghost.
THE UNQUIET GRAVE is set in two different era, 1897 and 1930. In 1897, Zona Heaster is murdered by her husband after only a few months of marriage. But she returns as a ghost and tells her mother what her husband did to her. She goes to the county prosecutor and tells him what she saw. Remarkably he believes her, and they dig up the body; Zona had a broken neck as well as finger marks around her neck. This is one of the holes in the story. The doctor who had been called to the scene was not allowed to take a close look at the body as her husband hovered over her.
Then we move ahead to 1930 at the colored asylum for the insane where we meet James P.D. Gardner who defended the husband as second chair. Dr. James Boozer is a psychiatrist at the asylum. The only reason Gardner is there is because he tried to commit suicide after losing his second wife. He tells Boozer about the case where a ghost testified against her murdering husband.
Okay, was there a real case? McCrumb says “The Greenbrier Ghost is West Virginia's best-known tale of the supernatural, but the incident has always been treated as folklore, a jumble of hearsay and supposition built on a handful of facts. McCrumb's original source was from a book of folklore that took up a page and a half, but by the time she was finished researching the incident she had a file of documents six inches thick. The implication is that these census records, birth and death certificates, maps and photographs fired her imagination and THE UNQUIET GRAVE is the result.
I think McCrumb would do herself a service if she brought back the sheriff and Nora Bonesteel. The characters in THE UNQUIET GRAVE are not as vivid as the lawman and the old lady, and some of the plot is just unbelievable as was the part about the county prosecutor agreeing to dig up Zona Heaster based on her mother's claim that she appeared to her as a ghost.
Give Me Your Hand
The protagonist in GIVE ME YOUR HAND is Kit Owens, a post doctor working in a scientific lab run by Dr. Severin, one of the most respected woman scientists in America. Everybody, especially young women, want to work for her.
She has a new study in the works, and she must pick two of her best post docs to work on it with her; it's a plum assignment that can make your career. It's about PMDD, an especially severe form of PMS that has symptoms of mental illness, but can be tracked by using menstrual cycles.
Kit Owens is a leading candidate and generally considered the smartest and hardest working of the post docs. She's always at the lab before anyone else in the morning and the last to leave. But then along comes Diane Fleming, a beautiful young woman who was the valedictorian of Kit's high school class (Kit was salutatorian, thanks to Diane, who taught her how to study and have confidence in herself).
Diane transferred to Kit's public school as a senior from a Catholic school and Kit was her only “friend”. One night they tell each other the worst thing each has ever done. Kit is shocked and the relationship deteriorates until she sees Diane again, apparently the new favorite to get one of the PMDD positions.
Kit has a sort of teasing relationship with one of the other post docs, Alex, and one night they go out drinking together. They fall into bed together; Kit doesn't know for sure but she thinks she told Alex Diane's secret. Later he threatens to tell Dr. Severin what Diane did.
Ironically, Diane's problems have nothing to do with PMDD as the reader is led to believe. I did think she was one of Dr. Severin's earlier subjects, but apparently her menstrual cycle didn't line up. Diane begs Dr. Severin to take her as a subject; she knows there's something seriously wrong with her.
What's wrong with her is her parents, especially her mother who's a worse sociopath than Diane. Believe it or not, Kit's “secret” concerning the worst thing she's ever done just happens to have something to do with Diane's mother's new flame. Diane recognized him when Kit told her what she'd done. Diane tries to warn her mother, but her mother believes the boyfriend. Megan Abbott doesn't work hard enough to make this coincidence believable. It's as if she just expects us to believe it because of all the other weird things going on in that lab and the other horrible things that have happened where they really shouldn't. Also, Dr. Severin, a respected doctor takes somebody on as one of her principal researchers, who she knows has mental problems. Kit is so astonished by this that she asks her if she's sleeping with Diane. She just laughs it off, but the reader isn't sure.
There is a telling scene in the book where Kit's mother makes her go to a beauty parlor, along with Diane, to get dolled up for her graduation from high school. By then Diane is almost a member of the family. Anyway, years later, she remembers that as one of the happiest times of her life. The women close the shop and start dancing and singing; they're genuinely happy for the two girls. Diane had never had that sort of relationship with anyone.
She has a new study in the works, and she must pick two of her best post docs to work on it with her; it's a plum assignment that can make your career. It's about PMDD, an especially severe form of PMS that has symptoms of mental illness, but can be tracked by using menstrual cycles.
Kit Owens is a leading candidate and generally considered the smartest and hardest working of the post docs. She's always at the lab before anyone else in the morning and the last to leave. But then along comes Diane Fleming, a beautiful young woman who was the valedictorian of Kit's high school class (Kit was salutatorian, thanks to Diane, who taught her how to study and have confidence in herself).
Diane transferred to Kit's public school as a senior from a Catholic school and Kit was her only “friend”. One night they tell each other the worst thing each has ever done. Kit is shocked and the relationship deteriorates until she sees Diane again, apparently the new favorite to get one of the PMDD positions.
Kit has a sort of teasing relationship with one of the other post docs, Alex, and one night they go out drinking together. They fall into bed together; Kit doesn't know for sure but she thinks she told Alex Diane's secret. Later he threatens to tell Dr. Severin what Diane did.
Ironically, Diane's problems have nothing to do with PMDD as the reader is led to believe. I did think she was one of Dr. Severin's earlier subjects, but apparently her menstrual cycle didn't line up. Diane begs Dr. Severin to take her as a subject; she knows there's something seriously wrong with her.
What's wrong with her is her parents, especially her mother who's a worse sociopath than Diane. Believe it or not, Kit's “secret” concerning the worst thing she's ever done just happens to have something to do with Diane's mother's new flame. Diane recognized him when Kit told her what she'd done. Diane tries to warn her mother, but her mother believes the boyfriend. Megan Abbott doesn't work hard enough to make this coincidence believable. It's as if she just expects us to believe it because of all the other weird things going on in that lab and the other horrible things that have happened where they really shouldn't. Also, Dr. Severin, a respected doctor takes somebody on as one of her principal researchers, who she knows has mental problems. Kit is so astonished by this that she asks her if she's sleeping with Diane. She just laughs it off, but the reader isn't sure.
There is a telling scene in the book where Kit's mother makes her go to a beauty parlor, along with Diane, to get dolled up for her graduation from high school. By then Diane is almost a member of the family. Anyway, years later, she remembers that as one of the happiest times of her life. The women close the shop and start dancing and singing; they're genuinely happy for the two girls. Diane had never had that sort of relationship with anyone.
