Sharyn McCrumb weaves tales that keep me spellbound, wistful and wanting more. I read the print versions of previous volumes in the series. However, with this one, I enjoyed listening to C. M. Hébert to read it to me.

Great McCrumb, written before she lost her way. Story of a dying man in the hills of Tennessee and the effects his passing has on his family and neighbors. The substory of Dovey Stallard and her father is an extremely sad, but beautifully written, work of art. Highly recommended.

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.

In the Tennessee Appalachian Mountains in a made-up county, a real estate developer wants to take land held by the Stargill and Stallard families for decades. A comatose Randall Stargill is found by his neighbor after he doesn't see him for a couple days. He sees the man's written wish to die at home rather than in a hospital. The neighbor calls the man's family to make the decision. They, of course, get him to the hospital in Johnson City. Their father wanted the boys to build his casket from s...

2.5 stars rounded down. I've read three of the Ballad series so far, and for two of them, I found the plot more intriguing than actual execution of it, unfortunately. dislikes: This one sounds really good in summary - mysterious child-sized bones brought forward, a dying old man who has some really specific dying wishes, several family members brought home for the death vigil with conflict between them. But the story dragged; a lot of exposition, history of the area, family dynamics, clunky

Description: 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 has hoarded for the special purpose. Meanwhile, mountain wisewoman Nora Bonesteel, Randall's sweetheart of long ago, prepares another box for his burial—a small box containing human bones...A story containing angels. Nice series this, what with the local folklore and indiosyncratic inhabitants.3* She Walks These Hills (Ballad, #3)3* The R...

THE ROSEWOOD CASKET - VGMcCrumb, Sharyn - 4th in Ballad seriesOld 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

Love, love, loved this one! The Rosewood Casket had all the right elements of a great book for me. Namely, it has an Appalachian setting, dysfunctional family issues, and an engaging mystery element. I recommend this book for others interested in Appalachian family stories. You won't be disappointed.

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...

I was really disappointed in this book. It started out with a very intriguing premise, and the characters, at first, felt very realistic and with quite a lot of depth. But about halfway through, I realized that nothing was really going to happen plot-wise, and the one big "event" that does occur happens to one of the minor characters that I couldn't have cared less about. The book has meandering side steps, going into detail about things like the inner thoughts of a random paramedic or doctor tr...

Great book! It was a little slow at times, but the good character development and story line make up for it.

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...

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...

This is a deeply resonant book about how secrets, silence, poverty, and war haunt two families and the whole Appalachian region. It’s also a continuation of the story of Nora Bonesteel, seer. All that is wrapped up in an installment of a police procedural series. Come for the detective story; stay for the novel.

A well spun story! Hard to put down. Love the northeast Tennessee setting.

An engaging, intriguing mix of history, mystery and magical realism set in Appalachia.

The Rosewood Casket was recommended to me, for my love of magical realism. And I am very grateful for that recommendation! This novel is set in Appalachian Tennessee, basically a foreign country to me, but McCrumb details both the culture and the landscape in a beautifully poetic way.At its heart, this is not just a story of the Stargill family, but of the timeless transition of land-tied creatures being forced to move, and indeed, of consequences. It's the story of Daniel Boone, the Cherokee, i...

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 reading t...

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.

I love the way Sharyn McCrumb writes, her style is so unique and her stories always draw me in. I love the way she blends southern family drama, history, and supernatural elements. Nora Bonesteel is my favorite of all McCrumb's characters. My heart broke for Randall Stargill in this story at what it must be like to die sick and alone.