Another of the ballad novels, Nora Bonesteel brings a small box of bones to be buried with Randall Stargill. Using Indian legends and the stories about Daniel Boone, McCrumb presents a mystery novel with family secrets and tragedies. ( )

Although I didn't find this book that suspenseful, I did enjoy the story. I really enjoy Ms. McCrumb's writing, and the way she introduces a bit of the supernatural in her stories with her wonderful Nora Bonesteel. I also love the setting high in the Appalachian mountains. It sounds like beautiful country. This is a book that depicts the way small family farms are disappearing throughout North America. It's about a very old mystery, and a modern-day tragedy. It's also about a family of four boys who learn to rediscover themselves when they have to return home to their ailing father. The story is bittersweet, and the legends are wonderful. ( )

I was really surprised at how much I liked this book. It was easy to read and flowed pretty good. There were a few skips where the action took place, and they moved on quickly. I could’ve used more detail, but on the whole I liked the characters, especially Clayt. I’m glad he turned out to be the big hero. I liked him best from the start!

I also liked the setting. Backwoods of eastern Tennessee. And all the history involved, including Daniel Boone, etc. I’m really into history, Appalachia and family stuff right now so it was the perfect book.

And of course, in books, all those old unanswered family questions are answered. Wish real life was like that. There are so many things involving my own ancestors and there is no one left alive who will know the answers. Those things really can get lost if there is no supernatural way to bring them to light.

Apparently the sherrif and Nora Bonesteel and the sherrif’s mother appear in lots of McCrumb’s books. Wish the Stargills did. I mean, Clayt is going to work his father’s farm and everything. I’d like to see him appear in some of her other books. He’s a good character to keep, I think. It also would give the writer great excuses to plug into all the eastern Tennessee folklore.

On a scale of 1-10, it’s maybe a 7.

I read this book this week and really enjoyed it. It's about a Southern family in Tennessee. Randall Stargill is old, has lost his wife and one of his 5 sons, his farm is beyond his abilities and he is ready to die. He gives up. But, before he dies, his neighbors, Dovey Stallard and her father, find him and get him to the hospital and call his remaining 4 sons home. He left handwritten instructions that he wanted his sons to use the rosewood planks in the barn and his wood hand tools to build his casket.

Robert Lee Stargill and his wife, Lilah, leave their home in Cincinnati and his job as a car salesman to come home. They've been married 30 years and Lilah is a real practical wife except that she sees her guardian angel, Rudy.

Garrett Stargill and his wife, Debba, come from Kentucky. Garrett is in the military. He and his wife have some problems. It seems Debba is scared of everything and very clingy and dependent. It's hard to like her until the end.

Charles Martin Stargill is a famous country music singer and his live in girlfriend is Kelly and she comes with her little girl, Kayla. Charles Martin, Kelly and Kayla come from Nashville, TN.

Clayt Stargill is the youngest son and still lives in the area. He's not married and has a hard time making a living because his only interest is history, especially Daniel Boone, and nature/wildlife. He's a virtual encyclopedia about this kind of stuff and he re-enacts Daniel Boone for schoolchildren. But this doesn't make him much money.

The Stargill farm has been in the family for 200 years (same for the Stallards) but it's hard to keep the family land these days. Farming is hard in the mountains and with the limited farmable land and help these days so the land is being developed for mountain cabins, retirement homes and mansions of the wealthy. For people who have a deep affinity for the land or their family history, it is devastating to lose their family land, their family identity.

Once the brothers get together at the farm, they begin to work on the casket. The women go through the trunks in the attic and pick out clothes to use to make a coffin lining. They quilt it with pieces from the boy's mother's wedding dress, items from the boy's childhood, etc. As the family works on these things...family secrets and scandals begin to come out. Neighbors add to the secrets and drama when old Nora Bonesteel, a neighbor and clairvoyant, brings something to tuck into Randall's coffin: a small box containing a child's skeleton.

I was impressed with this book. It's a quick and easy read but there is nothing easy and quick about the art. Just as the men built the casket and the women sewed together a quilt from the past, so Sharyn McCrumb crafts a story using bits and pieces of a small farm family. She opens your eyes to the complications of small farms in America today. There are depths to this family that slowly come out and you actually understand them by the end of the book. ( )

The ballad novels are amazing and The Rosewood Casket does not fail readers. The twists and turns and the characters are incredibly memorable. ( )