Review: Disturbing the Dead

Detailed, excellently written, carefully constructed, labyrinthine, multi-layered. All adjectives one can apply to Parshall's latest novel set in the Blue Ridge hills of Virginia. Almost everything in this fine well-designed mystery is calculated to carry the reader forward on a continually rising tide of concern, anxiety and ultimate tension.

There are so many twists and turns in the novel one is almost forced to make lists. This is definitely not the kind of casual book one reads over many days or weeks with multiple distractions. This is the kind of mystery one revels and sinks into, turning the pages long into the night, waiting and wondering what new twist will next leap off the page.

Racism and class bias take many forms and here Parshall deals in part with a nice blend of racial prejudice and stresses between the poor and the wealthy. The story takes the form of a police investigation by Melungeon Tom Bridger who has returned home to work for the County Sheriff in a position similar to that held by his father years ago. Bridger's father died having failed to solve one major case in his career, the disappearance of a Melungeon woman ten years earlier. The woman had risen from her poor family roots to marry a banker in the community, a pillar of the county.

When the novel opens human bones have been discovered on a wild and remote mountain-side in the county. The skull sustains the theory that the person was murdered. Bridger then reopens his father's old unsolved case and out of the dusty pages, secrets begin to rise. The more he delves, the more uncertainties arise. Bridger's life is further complicated by his growing attraction for a newcomer to the community, a woman veterinarian with a complicated past of her own.

There are too many ill-kept secrets in the town and gossip, secret and open besets Tom Bridger, sometimes sending him in the wrong direction, and at other times revealing new secrets. Author Parshall has given us a varied cast of citizens with many different attitudes and problems. The language, the pace and the many twists and turns all serve readers well and we'll wait anxiously for the next novel from this talented writer.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Carl Brookins - RAM

Book Review: Disturbing the Dead