The Unquiet Grave

From the New York Times bestselling author of Prayers the Devil Answers and The Ballad of Tom Dooley, a fascinating historical fiction novel you wont be able to put down (Bustle) based on one of the strangest murder trials in American historythe case of the Greenbrier Ghost. Lakin, West Virginia, 1930: Following a suicide attempt and consigned to a segregated insane asylum, attorney James P.D. Gardner finds himself under the care of Dr. James Boozer. Testing a new talking cure for insanity, Boozer encourages his elderly patient to share his experiences as the first black attorney to practice law in 19th-century West Virginia. His memorable case: defending a white man on trial for the murder of his young bridea case that the prosecution based on the testimony of a ghost. Greenbrier, West Virginia, 1897: Beautiful, willful Zona Heaster has always lived in the mountains. Despite her mothers misgivings, Zona marries the handsome Erasmus Trout Shue, Greenbriers newest resident and blacksmith. Her mother learns of her daughters death weeks later. A month after the funeral, Zonas mother makes a chilling claim to the county prosecutor: her daughter was murdered, and she was told this by none other than Zonas ghost... With her unique and real knack for crafting full-bodied characters and using folklore to construct compelling plots (Booklist), Sharyn McCrumb effortlessly demonstrates her place among the finest Southern writers at work today.