{"id":159,"date":"2024-05-04T11:43:20","date_gmt":"2024-05-04T11:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/?p=159"},"modified":"2024-05-03T13:44:43","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T13:44:43","slug":"sharyn-mccrumb-the-unquiet-grave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/sharyn-mccrumb-the-unquiet-grave\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharyn McCrumb, The Unquiet Grave"},"content":{"rendered":"

This novel\u00a0proved to be a very different beast of a crime book. Ghosts, murderers, and coverups, oh my! There\u2019s a lot about this novel that screams quintessential southern murder mystery. Taking place post-Civil War in Appalachian mountain towns and based on the true story of Zona Heaster, otherwise known as the Greenbriar Ghost, this novel approaches difficult topics with grace and respect for both the victim and family. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mary Jane Heaster does not like \u201cTrout\u201d Shue from the moment she learns about him. When her beloved daughter marries him almost immediately after meeting him, she is right to worry. <\/span><\/p>\n

Zona Heaster Shue is found dead in her own home while still in the honeymoon phase of her marriage, and her husband seems guilty of something. And when Zona\u2019s ghost comes back to tell Mary Jane that she had been murdered, her mother jumps right into action to get justice for her daughter. Trout remains at the top of Mary Jane\u2019s suspect list, even as the rest of the world, including her own husband, moves on from the tragic death.<\/span><\/p>\n

McCrumb tells the novel through two perspectives from two timelines: from Mary Jane\u2019s perspective <\/span>and <\/span><\/i>the perspective of James Gardner, a lawyer who worked on the case as he recalls it many years later. Although this is done quite well overall, I did feel like the lawyer\u2019s perspectives confused me at times, and this did take away from my reading experience as I got too bogged down in the details. Gardner goes on many tangents about characters who do not get many appearances and are pretty forgettable. McCrumb made up for it, though, with a captivating story of a mother\u2019s drive to avenge her daughter\u2019s death and make the world know the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

McCrumb\u2019s rich language and descriptions about the setting and characters did not leave much to the imagination, which worked extremely well in this case. Readers will feel as though they are seeing the story McCrumb has created through the discerning and sharp eye of Mary Jane herself. As far as paranormal activity goes, the entire murder trial truly hinges on the testimony of Mary Jane on behalf of the ghost of Zona Heaster Shue, and we feel every bit of Mary Jane\u2019s emotion as she tries to seek justice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Would I recommend you read this book? Absolutely. A mother\u2019s undying love for her murdered daughter, a retelling of the famous Greenbriar Ghost steeped in a mix of fact and folklore, and a story about a man\u2019s fight for his place as a lawyer post-Civil War makes for a story that you want to keep reading. There is so much to love about a novel that starts so sad but leaves the reader feeling satisfied by the end. Despite the difficulty reading James Gardner\u2019s side of the story, and the sometimes \u201cgimmicky\u201d aspects of the story, this quick read will keep you engrossed until you flip the last page.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars<\/p>\n

Trigger Warnings: Domestic abuse, implied violence, emotional abuse, discussion of racism, talk of suicide.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This novel\u00a0proved to be a very different beast of a crime book. Ghosts, murderers, and coverups, oh my! There\u2019s a lot about this novel that screams quintessential southern murder mystery. Taking place post-Civil War in Appalachian mountain towns and based on the true story of Zona Heaster, otherwise known as the Greenbriar Ghost, this novel … Continue reading Sharyn McCrumb, The Unquiet Grave<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4990,"featured_media":296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,8],"tags":[6,12,15,58,11],"class_list":["post-159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-southern-crime","category-spring-24","tag-gothic","tag-historical-fiction","tag-paranormal","tag-sharyn-mccrumb","tag-thriller"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2426\/2024\/04\/the-unquiet-grave-e1714099262240.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4990"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/ugareadscrime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}