Vicki Lane, Author
Author Vicki Lane turns once again to murder for her latest novel, but in a different genre altogether from her Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries series. “Though I remain very fond of my fictional Elizabeth Goodweather and her friends, after six books I was a little embarrassed by having to saddle this middle-aged farm woman with yet another murder to solve,” Lane says. In Madison County, where she lives, reminders of the Shelton Laurel massacre of 1863 are ever present and inspired her latest work of historical fiction, And the Crows Took Their Eyes.
Her research involved reading everything she could find on the massacre, including newspapers and government records. “In the end, after quite a lot of research, I settled on what seemed to be the most widely accepted version of the massacre,” she says. “I interviewed descendants from both sides and was guided by Shelton descendants up to the wooded gravesite of the massacre victims.”
Staying true to actual events meant a different experience than writing about a fictional Madison County. However, she says, “I felt free to imagine the thoughts and motivations of these people.” One character stood out from the rest. “I discovered that Judy Shelton, a historical woman I’d thought would be a minor character, was determined to have her say and she became the linchpin of the story,” Lane says, adding, “I have lived with these characters for so long now that they still talk to me.”
And the Crows Took Their Eyes, October, 2020, fiction, paperback, $18.95; hardcover, $26.95, by Vicki Lane, and published by Regal House Publishing, Raleigh, NC. To order, visit VickiLaneMysteries.com.
Review of Vicki Lane’s And the Crows Took Their Lives by Jon Michael Riley
First of all, Vicki Lane is a superb writer and the very one to have written this book, one that involves a story whose “facts” are, like a chimera from the past, almost impossible to nail down. Lane has done a superb job in making sense of all the fables, hearsay, speculation, and legend that surround the Shelton Laurel Massacre of 1863.
Lane is a first-class, kick-ass writer, the one who has found kernels of truth among all the fractured remembrances of this locally known legend. That Vicki Lane lives in Madison County and was able to research every rare bit of local knowledge about the happenings back in the Laurel Valleys, including the so-called raid on the Marshall salt stores, gives this novel so much authentic texture and ambiance. Moreover, her command of the way mountain country folk speak is a joy to read. She brings out the music and truth of their way of speaking.
Her five mains “speaking” characters are marvelous. Some are likable and other not, but all become real to the reader as they speak from the page to tell this historically fascinating saga. Part of the richness of the story stems from the fact that this one small area of Western North Carolina held a sizable population of folks who had no interest in the Southern Secession and really did not want to participate in the Civil War. This is the huge and uncomfortable social rub that infuses the story.
And the Crows Took Their Eyes is a masterpiece of great writing, and weavings of fact and fiction into a compelling story whose textures and truths command every page.