Book Review: The PMS Outlaws

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The PMS Outlaws    
Sharyn McCrumb
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural   Medical   Forensics   Woman Main Character
Series: Elizabeth MacPherson # 9
Ballantine, Sep 2000, $24.00, 295 pp.

Forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson may have solved several mysteries, but the disappearance of her spouse, allegedly drowned in the North Sea, proves too much for her. Unable to cope with her depression, Elizabeth checks herself into her family’s personal motel, the Cherry Hill Psychiatric Hospital.

At about the same time as Elizabeth’s mind unravels, her brother Bill’s legal partner A.P. Hill (a lawyer, not the reserve post) tries to stop the PMS OUTLAWS. The two female criminals, an escaped con and her lawyer, are becoming renowned throughout Appalachia for incarcerating naked, horny males to various plumbing accessories. Everyone converges on the new law office of Bill and A.P., where already resides a nonagenarian former FBI fugitive. No one except those who read the novel will ever know the zany outcome.

THE PMS OUTLAWS is a mixing of the Marx Brothers at the Opera with Thelma and Louise. The story line is extremely humorous with a biting undercurrent that impels the audience to look at social issues. The tale works on all levels because the entire cast from Elizabeth to the lawyers to the female “thugs” to their victims all seem genuine. Best-selling, award winning Sharyn McCrumb is at her witty best with this great satire.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner