She Walks These Hills

Sharyn McCrumb

4/19/2008

Hiram "Harm" Sorley has escaped from the Tennessee state prison. He was jailed for murder over 20 years earlier with no hope of parole. Now he has a mental disease similar to Alzheimer's. He just wants to get home to his wife and baby daughter. He's a hillbilly from Appalachia, so he knows the mountains better than he knows his own past. He's going home to western North Carolina.

Jeremy Cobb is finishing his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech on ethno-history. Appalachian history holds a particular fascination for him, especially the story of Katie Wyler. She was 18 and engaged when kidnapped by the Shawnee Indians. While there, she was able to escape. On foot, with nothing but the clothes on her back she eventually made it back to her home. Then she went walking with her fiancee Rab the night she returned and he killed her instead. Jeremy wants to know what Katie went through returning home and why did Rab strangle her?

The Hamelin deputy who was on sick leave may not be able to return. Martha Ayers, the dispatcher, applies and transfers into his job. Sherriff Spencer Arrowood is hesitant but agrees to give her a trial. Joe LeDonne, the other deputy, is also Martha's long time lover so they work different shifts and don't partner each other. Martha is concerned about Harm's possible return to their area. Spencer and LeDonne don't appear to be worried, which she can't understand. There's a murderer on the loose who may be returning to their jurisdiction.

These three story lines twine together into a very human tale in She Walks These Hills with a bit of superstition and the supernatural thrown in. Harm keeps working through the mountains to his home. His ex-wife is put on alert. Jeremy decides he needs to follow Katie's footsteps to finish his dissertation and hikes through the mountains. He ignores the fact that he's from the city and has never done any hiking before in his life. Martha learns more of what is involved with being a deputy and having the responsibility of carrying a gun. She talks a young wife out of hurting her new baby or her young husband. She escorts a funeral and works the local high school football game. On her own time, she goes looking for Harm Sorley, the dangerous criminal.

Sharyn McCrumb has pulled together a slow paced, interesting novel steeped in Appalachia. She gives the characters life and believability. She includes Nora Bonesteel, the sharp mountain woman who has lived on her mountain for decades and knows the area's history. By the end, Harm's escape and Katie's story bring the different character together and changes them all.

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The Series:

If Ever I Return Pretty Peggy-O
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
She Walks These Hills
The Rosewood Casket
The Ballad of Frankie Silver