Uncivil Seasons: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: "Uncivil Seasons " is Malone at his best....
Review: A great way to start enjoying the works of unheralded author Michael Malone is to read his North Carolina murder mystery, Uncivil Seasons. Malone's anti-hero is Justin Savile, born to a genteel southern family, as his name indicates. The plot is complex, and revolves around Joanna Cadmean, a local psychic, helping Justin to investigate the murder of a member of a prominent family. Both scenic passages and characterizations are compelling, and true to the south. The mystery remains a mystery, and you find yourself pulling for Justin and partner Cuddy Mangum.

There's a romance here, too, and it's played with just the right lightness of touch. It seems as though Malone can do it all, and I can't wait to read more of his works. I'll leave you with a favorite, opening line..."Two things don't happen very often in Hillston, North Carolina. We don't get much snow, and we hardly ever murder one another. Suicide is more our style..."

Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: His best book by far. Well-written, good dialogue, fully-realized characters, nice setting and backstory. A literate mystery which is a rare combination...buy and enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: one of the best mystery novels ever
Review: i'm a big fan of american literature, i'm a big fan of american crime novels, and i must say that "uncivil seasons" was for me an absolute discovery! an excellent literary mystery, where "literary" definitely DOESN'T mean boring or pretentious, but simply an extremely well-written, elegant, funny, convincing book that, before being a "mystery" is an exceptionally well crafted depiction of a complex and credible southern community with its enmities, affections, social and financial relationships. in this sense, the book is a perfect example of the "realistic" novel in its most classic, nineteenth-century incarnation: and how more human and witty than other contemporary overhyped stuff in the social-realistic vein (like, say, a "bonfire of the vanities"). and, in addition to that, the novel is also a coherent, interesting and well developed detection-story with a very satisfying and ironical ending. alas, the other two books in the savile-mangun series, while good (the second more than the third) are far from the level of this "uncivil seasons", which for me is a sure masterpiece in the genre.