is a different side of Sharyn McCrumb, still rather satirical, Good mystery, people you want to hang out with more, and it validates my opinion that a mystery is the best cure for depression, If you like to read series in order, try Sick of Shadows first and work your way up another favorite is If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him, Hospitalized for depression over her missing husband, forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson is pleased to discover that insanity liberates one from polite hypocrisy, Out in the real world, Elizabeths brother, Bill, has bought a stately old mansion to use as his law office, only to find that the house comes with a charming codgerinresidence who is far too old to be a dangerous outlaw.
. . isnt he Meanwhile, Bills law partner is trying to track down the PMS Outlawsan escaped convict and her fugitive attorneywho are cruising pickup joints and wreaking a peculiar vengeance on lustcrazed men.
Sharon McCrumbs incisive wit and her genius for mirroring everyday life are once again on full display, The PMS Outlaws is an outrageous parable of modern mores“a story of disparate parts that come together in a most satisfying way, ” I really enjoy Sharyn McCrumb's work, This book was a definite change from what I had been reading of her books, It seems to go into a more modern, faster flowing reading that made a humorous journey through insanity, obsessiveness, lawyers, convicts and mystery, a journey worth taking, One of mybest mysteries read in, Fun but jumped around too much, a bit schizoid, as it were! good, several giggles!! Sharyn McCrumb is one of my fav authors, but I prefer her ballad series, This is a fun book, give it a try, I was so disappointed in this book! I dearly love the Elizabeth MacPherson series, and this one, . . well, this one had Elizabeth in a terrible space I'm trying not to do a spoiler here, She was in a psychiatric facility
for depression, I kept thinking that the situation would change, deus ex machina, but it did not, Will there be another book in the series for that Evidently not, since this book was published inand there aren't any more listed,
There was a second story running contrapuntally to Elizabeth's story, It involved a young woman criminal and her attorney the two of them went rampaging all over the South, and Elizabeth's brother Bill, the lawyer, is trying to track them down.
From the back cover:
"Hospitalized for depression over her missing husband, forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson is please to discover that insanity liberates one from polite hypocrisy, Out in the real world, Elizabeth's brother Bill has bought a stately old mansion to use as his law office, only to find that the house comes with a charming codgerinresidence who is far too old to be a dangerous outlaw.
. . isn't he Meanwhile, Bill's law partner is trying to track down the PMS Outlaws an escaped convict and her fugitive attorney who are cruising pickup joints and wreaking a peculiar vengeance on lustcrazed men.
Sharyn McCrumb's incisive wit and her genius for mirroring everyday life are once again on full display, The PMS Outlaws is an outrageous parable of modern mores "a story of disparate parts that come together in a most satisfying way, "
I think she just wanted to wrap up the series, and used a hodge podge to do it, I love reading Sharyn McCrumb, She is so funny, while at the same time showing a really deep understanding of people and a keen eye for the small truths of life,
In this book she tells several concurrent stories, Elizabeth is in a private mental facility because she is having trouble accepting a devastating loss, We learn parts of the back stories of some of her fellow denizens some of them poignant little ministories within the story,
Elizabeth's brother Bill has just purchased a mansion to use as a law officeandresidence, He was probably the weakest part of the story, Kind of a caricature and not very believable as an attorney, There is an old guy living there who may or may not be who he says he is, I had trouble caring about that part of the book, and didn't understand the resolution when it came,
His law partner is an old college friend of one of the titular outlaws, and it is their history that drives most of the plot of the book.
In this installment of the Elizabeth MacPherson series, our heroine signs herself into a mental institution because she's suffering severe depression at the disappearance of her husband, In the meantime, her brother Bill buys a beautiful old home to use as his law office, hopefully to give his firm a reputation boost, In the meantime, Bill's partner A, P. Hill receives a disturbing phone call from a college chum who has broken a client out of prison and is running around the country luring men into isolated places and then leaving them naked and handcuffed in embarrassing situations.
The three plotlines do come together sort of by the end of the book, An inordinate amount of time is spent on the various mental illnesses of the residents at the institution, and though interesting, sometimes that dragged the story down a bit, Though I enjoyed the Asburger's character immensely, I liked watching A. P. Hill uncover the escapades of her friend, And I really liked when cousin Geoffrey showed up to help Bill decorate the house while really spying on theyrold former owner who is doing something underhanded with tons of sugar.
Sharyn McCrumb's witty style came through, and in that respect I was not disappointed, But the resolution took place without Elizabeth's active involvement, since she was in a drugged stupor, and that was disappointing,
I listened to a recording of this book on my iPod, and it took me FOREVER to finish it, I'm serious months. Part of the reason was the slow points in the plot, but by far the reason I kept hesitating to return to the story was because of the extremely annoying vocal habits of the narrator in the recording I listened to.
Long pauses where there shouldn't be, an annoying attempt to give each character a unique voice resulting in some really bad accents, and some very loud mouth noises smacking and swallowing and so on distracted from my enjoyment of the story.
Next time I'll pick up the book, Several stories were going on at once, This isin an interesting series, I am looking forward to reading more about these people, Well now, that was fun! And gives you many ideas to think about if youre inclined, I liked this one a little less but I think that's because I have always known fairly decent men in my life, I've been fairly sheltered I guess in that respect but I see no need to take "revenge" on men in general simply because they are men, Light, entertaining, silly. I much prefer McCrumbs Songcatcher series, Our most recent readaloud story, Humorous and moves along quickly, Flips quickly and smoothly between characters' povs and holds your interest, Ending is rather clever and unexpected, Fun summer read. Sharyn McCrumb has a facility for coming up with wonderful, zany titles, and “The PMS Outlaws” is right up there with “Bimbos of the Death Sun” and “If Id Killed Him When I Met Him”.
Unfortunately, the stories that unroll under these titles often resemble what comes up on the screen after you click on “What they found in this trash bin will astound you!”, and “The PMS Outlaws”, unfortunately, pretty much falls into that category.
Elizabeth MacPherson, McCrumbs amateursleuth / forensic anthropologist heroine is among the main characters in fact the book is billed as “an Elizabeth MacPherson novel”, but for most of it, shes a medicated zombie, locked into denial about the disappearance of her husband.
No, the book doesnt deal with his disappearance, or end with him being discovered amnesiac but healthy in the Orkney Isles, MacPhersons brothers law partner carries most of the story, as she gets involved with the titular bandits a couple of young women who lure horny but unsuspecting men into embarrassing situations before taking off with their possessions.
Things dont begin to come together until the halfway point of the book, and then they depend on ever more unlikely coincidences to draw things to their moreorless resolution.
The best thing about this book is that it doesnt require much of your time, It would be an okay companion on a crosscountry flight or in the waiting room at the maternity ward, But dont expect much beyond that,.cousin Geoffrey is the goat I stumbled across this book at BAM on clearance and I won't lie, . . I bought it because of the title, And the fact that it was marked way down, I didn't pay enough attention to the fact that it was part of a series,
I think I read this book in about a night and I really liked it but I was young and didn't really pay attention to the author's name so it wasn't tilyears later that I ever read any of the earlier MacPherson novels and they just didn't stand up to the remembrance I had of this one.
I was actually going to reread this novel before I finally donated it after years of having it, but sadly, the other books by McCrumb left me bored and to keep the favorable impressions that I had of "The PMS Outlaws" so I gave it away without rereading it.
A lawyer and her client are blazing a trail of misplaced revenge from state to state and attorney A, P. Hill is hot on their tails, Meanwhile, her partner Bill MacPherson has just purchased an old mansion for them to use as an office/home, The grand house comes complete with a shed, a chandelier, and the last owner, And then theres Bills sister, Elizabeth, Suffering from depression after her husband goes missing at sea, Elizabeth checks herself into a mental hospital,
So there you have it, three plotlines, Do they tie together Barely, To me, it seemed as though they were three weak short stories that the author couldnt make work so she threw them together for a book, The revenge plotline could have been amusing wannabe Romeos left to be found the next day minus their wallets and clothes if only more time had been taken to develop it.
Elizabeths stay at the mental hospital falls flat as most of this line is given to her and the other patients meandering drone mostly about the role of beauty in society.
The most entertaining of the three lines surrounds the purchase of the mansion, To redecorate or not redecorate, that is the question, But that is really just a ploy to gather information, The most pressing question for me was “What is that old man doing with all that sugar”
Ive read some of Sharyn McCrumbs work before, I love her Ballad series set in the North Carolina Appalachian Mountains, This is the first of the Elizabeth MacPherson series for me, Sad thing is I started withof the series, I hate doing that. I want to start with, But I didnt realize it until after I was done, Did that have something to do with why I felt this was so lackluster Perhaps, If I had started at the beginning of the series I may have felt more vested, Or maybe I wouldnt have made it this far, Who knows
One thing that really irked me was the way A, P. Hill was addressed throughout the book, A. P. Hill did this. A. P. Hill did that. Who refers to their friends by their full name Maybe it didnt happen all the time but it was way too much and enough that I cant remember four times when she wasnt referred to as A.
P. Hill.
With three lackluster plotlines that dont really mesh Im going to give this one a,on my bookometer. I think Ill go back to her Ballad series, Depressing book. I have to be honest and say, " I was expecting so much more, " The story was a mesh of lives collided and mystery that caused suspense and in the end I was disappointed with the outcome, Elizabeth doesnt get her husband, A, P. Hill was tied into the P, M. S. Outlaws in an explainable way, why did Purdue end up loke that Why did she pick Larkin What happens next, What about Larry Garrison and Jack Dolan Is there a squel If not then this was a bit of a let down, I need more explanation! I enjoyed this book immensely! My favorite parts of the story were scenes with Emma O, the Aspergers patient that Elizabeth met, To most readers, this character was easily overlooked but this was the first book I ever read that had an Aspergers character, This is super important since I am too an Aspie!! I appreciated and loved Ms, McCrumb's description of Aspergers and I was able to share it with my best friend who now completely understands my quirkiness, I even showed the description to my therapist and she agreed that it is very accurate, My mom gave me this book when I wasand it has stayed in my personal library since, A must read for everyone!!
This is my first Elizabeth McPherson mystery and I found that Sharyn McCrumb's characters were real, They had depth. Although it might be a little unrealistic to think that Elizabeth was trying to solve a mystery from a mental institution, It was interesting to see her work through her problems after the death of her husband and granted a month was fast but allinall the issues being faced were pretty real.
Also the story of the PMS Outlaws an attorney and an escaped con kept moving toward A, P. Hill, Bill McPherson's Elizabeth's brother law partner, Sharyn McCrumb, an award winning Southern writer, is best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels, including the New York Times best sellers The Ballad of Tom Dooley, The Ballad of Frankie Silver, and The Songcatcher.
Ghost Riders, which won the Wilma Dykeman Award for Literature from the East Tennessee Historical Society and the national Audie Award for Best Recorded Books, The Unquiet Grave, a well researched novel about West Virginias Greenbrier Ghost, will be published in September by Atria, a division of Simon Schuster, Sharyn McCrumb, named a Virginia Woman of History by the Library of Virginia and a Woman of the Arts by the national Daughters of the American Revolution, was awarded the Mary Hobson Prize for A Sharyn McCrumb, an award winning Southern writer, is best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels, including the New York Times best sellers The Ballad of Tom Dooley, The Ballad of Frankie Silver, and The Songcatcher.
Ghost Riders, which won the Wilma Dykeman Award for Literature from the East Tennessee Historical Society and the national Audie Award for Best Recorded Books, The Unquiet Grave, a well researched novel about West Virginia's Greenbrier Ghost, will be published in September by Atria, a division of Simon Schuster, Sharyn McCrumb, named a Virginia Woman of History by the Library of Virginia and a Woman of the Arts by the national Daughters of the American Revolution, was awarded the Mary Hobson Prize for Arts Letters in.
Her books have been named New York Times and Los Angeles Times Notable Books, In addition to presenting programs at universities, libraries, and other organizations throughout the US, Sharyn McCrumb has taught a writers workshop in Paris, and served as writer in residence at King University in Tennessee, and at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York.
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Sharyn McCrumb