The Songcatcher [Hardcover]

The latest entry in her Ballad Series, with titles drawn from traditional songs, has inspired me to write my first online review, even if I only gave it 4 stars--only because I like a couple of the other books better. I'd have given it 4 1/2 if I could have figured out how. This one is not, like the earlier ones, about murder, though a murder does make a brief appearance; it is about mysteries of time and heredity and the search for an elusive folk song. Nine-year-old Malcolm McCourry first heard "The Rowan Stave" in 1751 aboard the English ship which kidnapped him from his native Islay; after a career at sea and as a prosperous lawyer in New Jersey who fought in the Revolution, he took it with him when he moved west around the turn of the century when he moved west along the Wilderness Road and settled in western Carolina to found a new family. He also took along the family curse: that each McCourry firstborn would never come first with his or her parent; someone else would always come between.

Lark McCourry, moderately famous folksinger, doesn't know about the curse, but is familiar with its result. Returning to Hamelin, Tennessee, to see her dying father and to trace the song she remembers hearing as a child, she is lost in the mountains when her small plane crashes. As Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and some of our old friends, and some enjoyable new ones, search for Lark, second-sighted Nora Bonesteel searches for the song. And of course, there are ghosts, literally and metaphorically, playing their part in the story.

This is a novel about the persistence of character in family lines, about history and the making of the American--certainly the Appalachian--character, and about how a song survives and changes through history. McCrumb's great gift, even greater than her ability to tell riveting stories, is to create real, three--make that four--dimensional people, and a wonderful sense of place and time that makes the reader live in her books, hoping against hope that things will work out for people one cares deeply about.

I like and own all McCrumb's books. She has two other series: the BIMBOS/ZOMBIES books about science fiction fandom, and the Elizabeth MacPherson series, all mysteries, and all good. But the Ballad Series is superb. IF EVER I RETURN, PRETTY PEGGY-O is still my favorite, because the reminiscences of high school are so painfully accurate reflections of my own experience. SHE WALKS THESE HILLS is the most haunting. But none of them should be missed, by mystery readers, fans of Appalachian regional stories, or anyone who loves a good book.

I'm not going to bore you with a recap of the plot. If you want that read one of the other reviews. The Songcatcher is a little bit different than her other ballad series books, if that doesn't make it any less entertaining. There is no murder mystery, but there is plenty of mystery. So if you enjoy a good mystery, written very well. This is the book for you. In fact, you don't even have to be a mystery reader to enjoy any of Sharyn McCrumb's books. She is a wonderful writer and I feel that anybody, who enjoys a good book, would enjoy Sharyn McCrumb.

"Songcatcher" is anchored by Malcolm McCourry, the forefather, who is shanghaied from Islay, Scotland at age nine to become a seaman, lawyer, and early Appalachian mountaineer. His legacy is an obscure Scottish ballad, "The Rowan Stave." His story, continued by his descendents, is interwoven with the modern day protagonists. The early McCourrys are so vivid; the modern folks frequently seem pale in comparison. The "curse" Malcolm passes down is his first born child and succeeding generation's first born children will be unloved and unappreciated. The subsequent narrators are all first-born children, each baffled and hurt by the McCourry parent; yet they in turn unconsciously carry on this harsh legacy.

The tale is full of ghosts, faeries, and things that go bump in the night. The reader can believe or not believe; but they are there in a most matter-of-fact way. There were a few too many storylines in the present-day world. Joe LaDonne being trapped in the forest under old plane wreckage did not forward the story, and was a needless distraction. There was no "mystery" per se, yet everything was a mystery. Like the expert she is, Ms. McCrumb entices us with every new revelation and delivers a fast paced and gripping story.

"Songcatcher" is a worthy addition to the superb Ballad series.