Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past

October 15, 2014

McCrumb pays a Christmastime visit to a small town in the east Tennessee mountains in this novella, which follows ten novels in the "Ballad" series (King's Mountain). Nora has the gift of the "sight," allowing her to foresee deaths and talk with ghosts. Her neighbors, the summer people who purchased the old Honeycutt mansion, decide to spend Christmas at the mansion rather than returning to Florida for the winter. When their fake pink Christmas tree inexplicably continues to topple, they begin to worry that the house may be haunted and seek Nora's help. Meanwhile, on Christmas Eve, Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and his deputy head deep into the mountains to find the man responsible for the hit-and-run damage to a senator's car. Unhappy about arresting someone on Christmas Eve and trying to beat the predicted snowstorm, the men are in for an unexpected afternoon when they find their suspect. VERDICT Full of Appalachian atmosphere and Christmas memories, McCrumb's first-ever holiday tale offers a welcome glimpse into the lives of her most popular characters that will please the author's many fans.

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