If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him...

I had never heard of Sharyn McCrumb before getting this book from my dear departed mother in law.When I picked it up while helping my father in law wade through her personal belongings, we were all still in tears from our loss. This book made me roll in the floor laughing my ... off. I found myself not wanting to put it down. You can read all the other reviews on this book if you want someone to tell you how the story ends. Personally, I'd rather read the book to find that part out. You will have fun.Sharyn McCrumb has written over 30 other books that I have now located and read. This is one of her best although the ballad novels are wonderful too. The Rosewood Casket is excellent.This book is helpful to share with women friends who are dealing with divorce and particularly unfaithful spouses. The emotions of pain that are shown here but then charged with laughter are a wonderful way to start the healing. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, don't need a hat.

Sharyn McCrumb has succeeded brilliantly in writing a novel that is a decent murder mystery and yet also so much more. She manages to incorporate some interesting bits of Civil War-era history and lore, some little-known facts regarding the nature of a certain poison that figures prominently in the story, and also some thoughtful insights into the nature of contemporary American sexism and women's varying reactions to it. Through it all, McCrumb manages to keep her reader laughing; as she spins out the various threads that comprise her tale, she exhibits a devastating wit which she employs to perfection in illustrating the foibles of her characters and of human life in general.This was a book that once started, I had a hard time putting down. McCrumb always writes with grace and wit, and this is one of her very best efforts.

Sharyn McCrumb never ceases to entertain, and to allow her Elizabeth MacPherson books to possess a lighter side her Appalachian series does not. "If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him..." is a riot from beginning to end, with wonderful characters, a great plotline, and McCrumb's usual inimitable wit.It's a great book to start with if you're introducing yourself to her Elizabeth MacPherson's stories, but all the others are great, too, particularly "Lovely in Her Bones," "Highland Laddie Gone," and "Missing Susan," which is deliciously wicked, ;-)

I love a good mystery, and I love a well-written book. Having both in the same package is a real treat!Sharyn McCrumb gives us vivid, fascinating portraits of women and their love relationships from several different perspectives. Her detective, Elizabeth MacPherson, is a young anthropologist grieving for her husband who is apparently lost at sea. She returns to her hometown and offers to help her brother, a young lawyer in a struggling law practice with a young woman partner. Elizabeth's "journal", letters she writes to the husband she never expects to see again, form the frame around portraits of three of the law firm's clients, all of them women with relationship problems. One woman was discarded by her husband for a younger, more attractive "trophy." She kills them both and says "Yes, I did it, and I'd do it again. They deserved it." The second is a battered wife whose husband is apparently murdered, but she swears she is innocent. The third is a young woman animal trainer who seeks the firm's help so that she can legally marry the love of her life--- who happens to be a dolphin! The women's stories are all both funny and poignant, and the denouement both credible and satisfying. A mystery that provides a good evening of entertainment is a worthy object. A book that introduces me to characters that I keep thinking about after I have finished it is even more worthy. This book succeeds both as a mystery and as a fascinating novel. I have enjoyed past Elizabeth MacPherson books, and they seem to get better and better! I can't wait for the next one!