Ghost Riders by Sharyn McCrumb

I’m a big fan of McCrumb’s.  Some people read romance novels when they need something light. . . I read regional fiction, particularly from Appalachia, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland.  I studied a lot of Appalachian lit when I was an undergrad and was pretty well immersed in both the Appalachian Studies community and the actual local Appalachian community there in Blacksburg and its surrounds.  I had the pleasure of meeting McCrumb several times, and I think I can say without reservation that the lady is astounding.  Every time I spoke to her she either made me laugh like mad or dropped some little bit of truth or inspiration in my waiting palm.  Her books are light, but her head sure isn’t. 

This may be my least favorite of her Ballad novels, and I think that’s because Nora Bonesteel isn’t making many appearances, and the music itself is figuring less in the mystery.  And, truthfully, this novel isn’t really a mystery like most of the others in the loosely-connected series.  It’s still a good read–don’t get me wrong.  But it didn’t ring as loudly in my head as its predecessors. 

As is always the case, the book is well researched, and McCrumb does a great job sketching out historical and fictional characters, male and female.  She does seem to have a tiny bone to pick this time, chastising Civil War reenactors several times through the plot itself and through the voice of Rattler, this novel’s lead seer.  I can’t call her out for that though–Civil War reenactments give me the willies sometimes, probably because so many reeneactors in Virginia seem to be rehashing a political and ethical conflict more than 100 years gone. 

The shining stars in this novel are the characters Malinda Blalock, a woman who ends up serving in both the Confederate and Union armies, and North Carolina’s Confederate Governor Zebulon Baird Vance, a historical character McCrumb places front and center in the novel.  Vance is great fodder: he was a pro-Union politician who ended up serving the Confederacy in both military and political roles because he felt bound to his locality.  I’m certainly no expert on Vance, but McCrumb’s characterization of him is fascinating and rings true throughout. 

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