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

Forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson becomes entangled in two murder cases and one older mystery. The novel sits at the center of a series that mixes humor, legal trouble, and violence against women.

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Work Information

Behind the murders, wit and irony keep working.

An ironic mystery in which murder investigations intersect with family tension and social absurdity.

Review Summaries

Readers appreciate the way sharp dialogue and eccentric characters support a dark subject. Some find it a little overstuffed or predictable, but its social satire leaves a strong impression.

Book Information

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 1995-04-18
Language: 英語
Size: 15.24 x 3.18 x 21.59 cm
ISBN-13: 9780345382290
ISBN-10: 0345382293
Price: 5959 JPY
Category: 洋書/Mystery & Thrillers/Mystery/Women Sleuths

"Whenever Sharyn McCrumb suits up her amateur detective, Elizabeth MacPherson, it's pretty certain that a trip is in the offing and that something deadly funny will happen on the road." --The New York Times Book Review Now, the author of She Walks These Hills brings her storytelling gifts to a novel about crimes committed a century apart. For forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson, solving mysteries hardly seems the fun it used to be--even if she is the official private investigator for her brother Bill's fledgling Virginia law firm. Then Bill and his feminist firebrand partner, A. P. Hill, take on two complex cases that will require Elizabeth's special participation. Eleanor Royden, a perfect lawyer's wife for twenty years, has shot her ex-husband and his beautiful late-model wife in cold blood. And Donna Jean Morgan finds herself married to a Bible-thumping bigamist who has the nerve to die in circumstances that implicate his wife. A. P. does her damnedest for Eleanor, an abused wife in denial, and Bill gallantly defends Donna Jean. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's forensic expertise, including her special knowledge of poisons, gives her the most challenging case of her career. As questions of wife abuse and abandonment emerge in the court of public opinion, Elizabeth becomes a war correspondent in the battle of the sexes--a battle as old as the hills and unlikely to reach a truce any time soon....

Reviews

Men can be such horrors

Middle aged shark lawyer who "deserves it" and his new trophy bride are shot by his ex-wife after they sport with her emotions, embarrass her, and make her life a living hell for years. Elizabeth tries to help when the rest of the legal establishment go after the discarded wife when she snaps under extreme provocation and Amy Hill manages to finagle a settlement. A blue collar evangelical preacher/contractor decides that the Lord wants him to have multiple wives, and manages to take a 16 year old girl as his second bride. He dies under suspicious circumstances, having nothing to do with his long-suffering and patient original wife, and the real reason is ably sussed out by Elizabeth as having nothing to do with anyone but the Honored Dead. A fun and wicked romp.
I loved this book

I have read this book 2 or 3 times since it was first published. Might be pushing 25 years? It was included in the book review section in the local Sunday paper. If for no other reason I read it because I loved the title. It spurred me on to read the rest of the Elizabeth MacPherson series. Elizabeth is an anglophile and a Forensic Anthropologist in the books. Ms. McCrumb knows her history of Appalachia and the South and has bound them together with all the interesting aspects of Elizabeth's anthropology field. McCrumb seems to live and breathe history and has a wonderful sense of humor in this series. In this book she has done this start in the past thing that authors often do, switch to present, and bring everything together. I liked it well enough to get the Kindle version so my old eyes can read it again in comfort. Several of her books have been re-released in e-book form. I keep looking for them. She also writes other series, 2 or 3 of them.
Passable, not great

Another choice from my Book Club. Meh! At least it was a lot better than "Chances Are...." by Richard Russo, which was a TOTAL waste of my time. I don't know whether I would recommend this book. It did have some interesting twists and turns.
Sharyn McCrumb is very simply the finest of the great storytellers in the mountain tradition

Sharyn McCrumb is very simply the finest of the great storytellers in the mountain tradition. She takes the reader by the hand and leads them into the misty trails on the Smoky Mountains and holds them spellbound while she weaves her storytelling magic. If you are born in the lovely hills you will find new pride in hailing from these Southern mountains. If you are not from these hills, you will want to start a fund to travel to see the regions McCrumb writes about. Y'all come!
Bought it for the title...

stayed for the story! Turns out it was a good book.