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Usually ships in 1-2 business days | | Only 1 left in stock, order soon! | | | | | | Tom Bridger, who is half Melungeon, thought he had escaped his mountain community's lingering prejudice against the mixed-race group when he left to work for the Richmond, Virginia Police Department. Tom was moving up the detective ranks when a family tragedy brought him back home and moved him into his fathers job as a county sheriff's deputy.
Now the bones of a Melungeon woman who disappeared ten years ago have surfaced on a remote mountaintop, and all evidence points to murder. Violence escalates as the victim's poor family and the wealthy white family she married into scramble to protect their secrets from Toms probing. But as he probes into his father's investigation of the case, he finds his father was not the man he idolized.
The woman Tom is falling in love with, veterinarian Rachel Goddard, is struggling to start over in a place that holds no memories for her. Rachel puts herself in danger when she befriends the dead Melungeon womans niece, Holly. As a child, the girl witnessed something that could implicate her aunt's killer, but she is too terrified to tell anyone what she knows. While Rachel is determined to keep Holly safe and help her piece together past events, the guilty are equally determined to silence the girl--and Rachel too, if necessary.
Will this murder be Tom's and Rachel's undoing or will it free them to look into the future?
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Sandra Parshall | | Hardcover: | 326 pages | | Publisher: | Poisoned Pen Press | | Publication Date: | March 09, 2007 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 1590583787 | | Product Length: | 8.84 inches | | Product Width: | 6.08 inches | | Product Height: | 1.0 inches | | Product Weight: | 1.26 pounds | | Package Length: | 8.9 inches | | Package Width: | 5.9 inches | | Package Height: | 1.3 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.15 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 8 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review:
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 NEW AUTHOR Jul 03, 2010
ALWAYS LOOKING FOR AN AUTHOR I HAVEN'T READ BEFORE. SO I GAVE HER A TRY WITH THIS BOOK AND FEW OTHERS SHE HAD WRITTEN.
THOUGH PREVIEW SOUNDED INTERESTING...I FOUND THE WRITING DRAGGING
AND SOME WHAT DISAPPOINTING.
 Quest for Independence Jun 17, 2009
Few mystery writers tackle or master the complicated relationship between middle-aged adults (Rachel, the vet) and young adults (Holly, the young assistant). With Disturbing the Dead, Sandra Parshall succeeds in exploring the challenges and lessons exchanged in such a friendship, while offering excellent characterization and a satisfying plot details. Besides being a murder mystery,this story is about the tensions that emerge when young adults seek independence and close relatives seek to maintain control.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Parshall has done it again! Jan 25, 2008
Disturbing the Dead by Sandra Parshall is every bit as good as her debut novel, Heat of the Moon, and probably even better! This book is very hard to put down, the suspense is great. The storyline is very fascinating and the characters are very complex and interesting. This delves into an Appalachian race called the Melungeons. These people are a mixed race that seems to be shunned by most of the others in the area, so they tend to stick close and have a community of their own with their own secrets and sometimes unlawful activities. The story is about Rachel Goddard, the vet from the first book, who moves to this area and gets involved in a mystery that happened 10 years before, but only came to light again when bones were found on the mountain that belong to one of the Melungeons that disappeared 10 years before and was believed to have run off. The detective investigating the "now confirmed murder" is also Melungeon and very interested, romantically in Rachel. This is NOT a romance book, but does touch on it a bit; it is definitely a mystery that is very suspenseful and intriguing. I loved this book and I highly recommend it! If you've read the first one, don't hesitate to get this one, it's even better. If you haven't read the first, you can still read this one, as the story holds fine on its own. But read them both, you'll be glad you did.
2 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 Don't waste your money Aug 27, 2007
Poorly written and badly organized, I remain astonished that such amateur efforts can get published. Books like this seem to justify decreasing interest in reading in America. A previous review points out that Parshall "introduces too many characteristics into the book as well as expresses her opinion with more words than needed." Such opinionated drivel in this book further demonstrates Parshall's inability to construct a viable novel as she is too busy trying to portray herself as an expert. But I supposed the bookstore bargain bins need constant fuel from hack writers like Parshall.
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Accomplished whodunnut Apr 05, 2007
Long-time Washington, D.C.-area resident Sandra Parshall has
written Disturbing the Dead with the same grit and inventiveness
characterizing her debut title, The Heat of the Moon (2006).
Her heroine, veterinarian Dr. Rachel Goddard reappears, now
living in hilly, remote Mason County, Virginia. She's
attempting a fresh start there after a thug's vicious assault in
The Heat of the Moon. But Rachel's transition to Mason County
isn't an easy one.
Reader fascination with local color and regional writing adds to
Disturbing the Dead's appeal. Parshall's work will satisfy the
fans of Dana Stabenow, Nevada Barr, and Karin Slaughter who
excel in using outdoor themes and rural settings. Parshall's
quaint dialogue ("That bunch would skin a flea for its hide.")
crackles with authenticity. Her characters are also complex and
original to transcend the clichéd versions of provincial
townsfolk.
This time Rachel shares twin billing with Captain Tom Bridger.
His deputies have recovered mysterious bones on a wintry
mountain. They speculate the bones belong to Pauline McClure, a
lady missing for a decade. She'd married into the affluent
McClure family, and most of her in-laws still castigate Pauline
as a gold-digger.
Jim Bridger, Tom's late dad, was the lead investigator. Tom
vows pick up where his dad left off and ferret out the truth.
To complicate matters, Tom is half-Melungeon, the
dark-complexioned locals thought descendent from Portuguese
settlers and Indian natives. Many whites feel a prejudice
against Melungeons and some treat Tom as a pariah. As a tough,
relentless professional investigator, Tom follows the clues and
stokes the plot twists.
At first, Troy Shackleford, a handyman and drug pimp, is the
primary suspect. Fearing Troy's violent nature, his plucky
daughter Holly goes to work for Rachel. Tom tracks down
Pauline's daughter Mary Lee Scott who lives in McLean, Virginia,
Rachel's former home. Rachel and Tom believe the cause of
Holly's recurring nightmares holds the key in solving her mother
Pauline's murder. The mystery deepens when additional gruesome
evidence turns up on the same mountain.
Parshall uses a visceral prose style, deft pacing, and intricate
plotting. She deals in enough clues and red herrings to keep
readers guessing whodunit. Rachel and Tom in Disturbing the
Dead is a successful teaming, calling to mind S.J. Rozan's
popular detective business partners Bill Smith and Lydia Chin.
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