Um. Well. I guess, in order to keep Amazon happy, as well as fans of this book, I ADORE THIS AUTHOR!But this particular novel makes the sacrifice by the trees to print it a shame. Fortunately, I downloaded it. I think it was a cozy mystery. I think. It was difficult to tell, though, at least for me. Tone-deaf emotional responses, unintentional comedic scenes, the lamest intentional jokes of the year in a book (and I've read 100 books this year), an uninteresting family, socially inept dialogue throughout (it was if female engineers were trying to make conversation at a party - I apologize to my fellow feminists, but it really was like computer engineers trying for a chirpy presentation) overexplaining the obvious while neglecting to lay any groundwork for other incidents, curious non- or over- or not-in-the-right-movie- reactions, and most alarming, a peculiar plot insertion popping out like a jack-in-the-box surprise similar to a clown clopping across the stage waving balloons in a Macbeth production. The ending is literally demented. If a Romance reader was trying to write a book in the style of Agatha Christie, it might result in this book. If this wasn't an early effort by this author, well, I don't know how to account for how bad this is. Every attribute of telling a good story is utterly eviscerated, except for the mystery motifs utilized which were popular in the 1930's, which nonetheless, are horribly stitched together by the poor quality of the lighthearted writing. However, I'm very curious now as to how this book led to a series of Elizabeth MacPherson the Sleuth mysteries. In this beginning adventure of Elizabeth's career, she is a social butterfly child-woman attending a family wedding, where a crazy cousin-in-the-attic Eileen is marrying an inappropriate limp-wristed liberal, Michael Satisky. An aunt had a clause in her will that money will be inherited by the first of the cousins to marry. All of the Chandlers are in the top 20% of wealthy Americans, so why this plot point is there, it must be just in case the other motive, inherited insanity, doesn't work for the reader. Elizabeth is relentlessly nice, observing her bizarre relatives and writing notes to her brother Bill, primarily, completely without any detection of dissonance, even though every one of her cousins has a talk with her darkly hinting at the Chandler inheritance of insanity. The only bad moment of her visit, of which includes the discovery of her cousin's body in a boat and that the cousin either died from hitting her head in a fall or by snakebite (yes, lets throw in snakes sitting in the boat for that one fatal minute but which are gone when the body is found, and which are never explained), the insanity of all of her cousins, the medieval castle built by odd laughing Alban across the road, inhospitable and hostile aunt Amanda, Captain Grandfather who believes he is still in the navy, cousin Charles who appears to have autistic tendencies, cousin Geoffrey of the abrupt social transitions - is when the Chandlers curiously ask Elizabeth about the history of the MacPherson branch. She unaccountably is enraged and is defensive while telling them she is part of a Scottish clan and likes tartan colors. For some reason, she is embarrassed and aggravated to talk about this at dinner to the eccentric, delusional, self-involved and schizophrenic Chandlers. It isn't a plot point which is developed further or matters in the least to the mystery. I suppose it was simply a lame attempt to 'humanize' Elizabeth by writing in a show of a disembodied temper tantrum for a character who has been a shallow dimwit so far. Well, iMHO, Elizabeth still is a shallow dimwit by the end of the book. She does not solve the mystery or help the Chandlers or in any way charm this reader by the end of this first book in the series.It doesn't matter if I go on with my review, whether it's for my book diary purpose or for your interest in my opinion. If I was to enumerate every horrible sentence of dull, brainless dialogue or disassociated meaningless event or fact or inappropriate social interaction, it would mean copying the entire book.The theme-setting quote at the beginning of the book is from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady...Make of that what you will.November 26 - editI was curious about how such a bad book spawned a series - what a surprise I've been having the last week! I've read two more Elizabeth books - and they are truly funny! In the right way, not unintentionally. Elizabeth is charming, if you don't mind that the author has designed her as a dark-haired member of the 'dumb blonde' club. This series is definitely comedic and satiric - but not sardonic, dark or vicious. If you enjoy the goring of oxen, they are fun. 'Sick of Shadows' must have been an early effort. It's a shame the author didn't get the opportunity to make it right before publishing it. I can see that it was a satire of the 1930's mysteries, but it simply is a horribly written novel. I'd love to read a fixed up version!If you see yourself as a monument of social probity and middle-class propriety and political correctness, you will likely find in the series a character or a beloved American tradition which appears to have been insulted. You are warned, as the author is using the interests and values of the middle-class as the basis for her ridicule. I agree with the author's vision of our monkey silliness (not just about our actual lifestyles and social pretensions, but also the literary genre conventions in which we package our entertainments!). The author is goring a LOT in this series, gently, and I like it - just not this first book.
I always enjoy the Elizabeth MacPherson series, because you can always say they are interesting, light, fun novels. Of all I've read so far this was my least favorite, but still worthwhile and scored well as far as entertainment. There were two things I found annoying in the book. First was an editing error; one character was described as wearing "rimless" glasses, and then just a few pages later he was wearing "wire-rimmed glasses". That got under my skin - I think because I felt like I had a clear picture of this fellow in my mind, and then suddenly it changed, even though it is slight. The other thing was the inundation of quotations. The storyline centered around an eccentric, rich family (relatives of Elizabeth's), and several of her cousins were given to quoting Shakespeare and other classic writers. A lot. Some exchanges were nearly exclusively quote exchanges. Elizabeth and her brother, Bill, and his roommate, Milo, even got in the game. It was fun at first (one character reminded me of Doc Holliday in the movie Tombstone) but got to be a bit much. High points of the book were the usual wit McCrumb works into her books and the interesting storyline. I always identify with Elizabeth well, and this time her odd extended family members (who doesn't have a handful of those?) hit some familiar chords. The end wasn't completely surprising, but there was just enough I-wonder-what's-next to keep things moving nicely.
What do You think about Sick Of Shadows (1989)?
The first time I heard the title "Sick of Shadows" I immediately thought of Tennyson's poem "The Lady of Shallot." I was especially hopeful that the poem might be connected to this mystery despite the slight change of wording since my I found McCrumb through her Ballad Mysteries. In this aspect, it did not disappoint - there are numerous parallels between the two works, though it is far from an actual "retelling" of the story. Tennyson's mysterious "curse" has always intrigued me, and it is incorporated well here.However, the book as a whole just isn't quite as put together as I hoped it would be. It is not as funny as the Jay Omega series, nor as intricate and layered as the Ballad series; it rests in the middle ground. Also, the random insertion of quotes throughout did bother me a bit - they just seemed a bit out of sync with the rest of the conversations.I'm really not certain if I'm going to continue on with this series; I like the poem connections, but not as much of a fan of the writing style. I might try skipping ahead a few books to see what one of the later books are like. Of course, I still have several other books of hers to read so I'm in no rush.
—Melanti
When I read a cozy, I expect to get a good sense of place from the book. I don't care if the story takes place in 1884 or 2013. This book had me a little confused. The character's dialog sounded British even though the story takes place in a small town in Georgia.The copy of the book I read stated it's publication date was 1989. I thought I would have a nice stroll down memory lane as I and most of my friend married around this time. I had to double check the publication date because the attitudes were so out of place for circa 1990. Women are more concerned about husband hunting than establishing a career. One of the characters lives in a commune. The heroine who just graduated from college with a degree in sociology considers a career in Archaelogy because her brother's roommate is an Archaelogist and they could excavate together, never mind she hasn't even met the guy. All the female characters are either immature, neurotic or mentally ill. After the death of the murder victim, a family member is scolded for failing to wear black for mourning, not at the funeral but in the privacy of their home. It seemed so Mad-Men-like that I was sure I was reading a book published in the 1960's. When I re-checked the publication date, it was indeed not 1989 but 1984. Even with the earlier publication date, the attitudes seem about 25 years off.But what really bugged me, was that the mystery was not solved by the heroine but by a minor male character. I think I could have been amused by all the other things but that just went too far.As to the nostalgia, this novel takes place in a time when people wrote letters, looked information up in an encyclopedia (book), and apparently sent mailgrams. I looked mailgrams up on wikipedia.The mystery was decent and held my interest. If you can laugh at the mid-century attitudes, you will enjoy this mystery.
—Moonlight
In Sharyn MCCrumb's mystery debut, Sick of Shadows, she tells the story with an intricate and suspense in a most complicated mystery down in the South. When Elizabeth McPherson arrives for her cousin Eileen's wedding, everything's not what it seemed to be. Her family didn't like her fiancé; and she's been acting strange. Everything seemed to be connected to her painting, when she disappeared and later found out dead. It's up to Elizabeth and the police to find it out, when someone in her family wanted her dead, as it's been swarming with family secrets like an angry bee hive. And in the end, there's a shocking twist of whodunit and how it was done and why. What a shocking twisted mystery.
—Kristen
