Sandra Parshall

This is a mystery that can be read as a stand-alone and many times when a novel can be read as a stand-alone, readers do not go back and read the earlier novels or continue with the series. As a frequent writer of reviews I have often shared when a novel can be freely read with absolute pleasure as a stand-alone. I can't say that about Sandra Parshall's Rachel Goddard Mystery series. Why? Let me count the ways!

Sandra Parshall's writing is not to be missed. She knows how to captivate with a mystery series that is more psychological thriller as the series begins. Each novel builds on Rachel's character, her work as a veterinarian, and all of the characters with which she interacts.

I love trying to solve a mystery. With twists and turns, I haven't guessed correctly yet. Love that! It's the type of writing that one can't wait to breeze through and yet the closer that one gets to the end, wishing it all wouldn't end just yet.… (meer)

After reading the first novel in the Rachel Goddard Mystery series, I knew I wanted to continue reading this series. Through the next steps in Rachel Goddard's life, the author incorporates the story of the Melungeon people and shares a glimpse of history that I was not aware. As the author states in her opening Acknowledgements, "Disturbing the Dead" is a work of fiction, set in a fictional Virginia mountain community, but the Melungeon people of Appalachia are real and their history as "tri-racial isolates'-a mixture of white, Native American and black-is as I describe it.

The Melungeon Heritage Association is a non-profit organization documenting and preserving the history and cultural legacy of mixed ancestry peoples of the southern and eastern United States. For more information, visit the website for the Melungeon Heritage Association, http://melungeon.org/… (meer)