If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O: 10/07/24

If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O by Sharyn McCrumb (1990) is the start of the Ballad series. Each one of these stories are stand-alones, sharing the theme of a classic ballad as the core of the mystery.

Sheriff Spencer Arrowood lives in a quiet Tennessee town. He's dealing with his own demons, being estranged from his family. The favorite son died in Vietnam and his ghost has strained every aspect of Arrowood's life.

A folksinger, popular in the 1960s, has come to town hoping to restart her stagnant career. Shortly after moving in she receives a note in the form of lyrics from an old ballad. She takes it as a threat and has to convince the sheriff that she's in danger.

I didn't manage to finish this book. It's very much a mystery for boomers by a boomer. It falls into the usual boomer tropes. First there's the continued specter of Vietnam. There's the bad seed feeling guilty about surviving. The men are manly and the women are annoyed. And cis het white society is perpetually sexually frustrated.

Instead of bothering with setting up the mystery plot McCrumb spends her time making sure the reader knows that she knows whatever the theme du livre is. Sure, I enjoyed the chitchat about Ian and Sylvia and their breakup but damn it, I also wanted the mystery to get started.

The second book is The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (1992). I don't currently have any plans to continue with the series.

One star

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