Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past: A Ballad Novella

By Sharyn McCrumb

When someone buys the old Honeycutt house, Nora Bonesteel is glad to see some life brought back to the old mansion, even if it is by summer people. But when they decide to stay through Christmas, they find more than old memories in the walls. On Christmas Eve, Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and Deputy Joe LeDonne find themselves on an unwelcome call to arrest an elderly man for a minor offense. As they attempt to do their duty, while doing the right thing for a neighbor, it begins to look like they may all spend Christmas away from home. In a story of spirits, memories, and angels unaware, Sharyn McCrumb revisits her most loved characters who know there is more to this world than the eye can see, especially at Christmastime.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abingdon Fiction
• Release date: Sep 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781682999073

Sharyn McCrumb

Sharyn McCrumb is the New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Ballad novels. She has received numerous honors for her work, including the Mary Frances Hobson Prize for Southern Literature, the AWA Book of the Year, and Notable Books in both The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. She was also named a Virginia Woman of History for Achievement in Literature. She lives and writes in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, fewer than one hundred miles from where her family settled in 1790.

Book preview

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Half-Title Page

Nora Bonesteel’s Christmas Past

Previous Ballad Novels by Sharyn McCrumb

Previous Ballad Novels by Sharyn McCrumb

King’s Mountain

The Ballad of Tom Dooley

The Devil Amongst the Lawyers

Ghost Riders

The Songcatcher

The Ballad of Frankie Silver

The Rosewood Casket

She Walks These Hills

The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter

If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O

Title Page

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Copyright Page

Nora Bonesteel’s Christmas Past

Copyright © 2014 by Sharyn McCrumb

ISBN-13: 978-1-68299-907-3

Published by Abingdon Press, P.O. Box 801, Nashville, TN 37202

www.abingdonpress.com

Published in association with the Irene Goodman Literary Agency.

Macro Editor: Teri Wilhelms

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, posted on any website, or transmitted in any form or by any means—digital, electronic, scanning, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in printed reviews and articles.

The persons and events portrayed in this work of fiction are the creations of the author, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McCrumb, Sharyn, 1948-

Nora Bonesteel’s Christmas past / Sharyn McCrumb.

1 online resource.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by

publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN 978-1-4267-5765-5 (epub)—ISBN 978-1-4267-5421-0 (binding:

jacketed casebound : alk. paper) 1. Christmas stories. I. Title.

PS3563.C3527

813’.54—dc23

2014016623

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 / 19 18 17 16 15 14

Dedication Page

With thanks to Officer J. A. Niehaus

and Officer D. J. Runge

Chapter 1

1

Well, it just doesn’t seem right, that’s all. Arresting somebody on Christmas Eve. Spencer Arrowood shivered as a gust of wind hit him. The fleece-lined glove he had just dug out of the pocket of his nonregulation sheepskin coat spun away from his numb fingers and landed with a little plop in a not-yet-frozen mud puddle beside the curb. With a weary sigh, the sheriff picked it up and flicked at the mud with his hand. By rights, we ought to be heading home by now."

Home, Deputy Joe LeDonne shrugged. Yeah, but it’ll be quiet after this, and both the second-shift officers have kids. I figured we might as well let them have the night off. Martha has gone to visit her sister in Charlotte, so I got no plans. You?

The sheriff cast a baleful glance to the pewter sky that seemed to stop just above the spire of the courthouse. A few grubby flakes of snow swirled along on the gusts of wind. Plans? None to speak of. But a few upstanding citizens have invited me to Christmas parties, so I reckoned I’d fetch up somewhere this evening. Maybe make the rounds of three or four of them and make dinner out of the party tray hors d’oeuvres.

Shall I reserve the drunk tank, Sheriff?

Not on my account. I’m sticking to fruit punch.

Well, good luck with the party circuit. Do any of the invitations sound promising?

Well, not for the pleasure of anybody’s company, as far as I’m concerned, but there is one from Anna Martha Matusczcyk Kerney. He said the name in one long breath.

What a mouthful. How did you remember all that?

Spencer sighed. It was on the check she wrote for my reelection campaign. I memorized it in case I ever met her. She is the widow of the quarry owner, so I reckon she can afford chocolate-covered quail eggs, or whatever they serve at those fancy parties.

Champagne and caviar. LeDonne bit back a smile. Sounds just like your kind of party. You can talk about polo and opera. You gonna change into your tux back at the office?

Spencer shook his head. If I had one, they’d probably mistake me for a waiter. And since caviar is just a jumped-up name for fish eggs, maybe I should stick with pigs in a blanket and the vegetable tray and onion dip from Food City.

You always do, said LeDonne. Our office Christmas party makes up in consistency what it lacks in creativity. But I do look forward to your mother’s chocolate cake every year.

Clabbered sky, said Spencer, peering up at the clouds. Looks like it’s going to snow here before too long.

The decades-old tinsel and ribbon Christmas decorations, put up by the town of Hamelin on the first Monday in December, swayed in the wind. The narrow main street was empty now; the few little shops closed at noon on Christmas Eve. Anybody with last-minute shopping to do would have headed for Johnson City where the big chain stores never closed at all. Everyone else had gone home to snug brick houses on tree-lined streets or to one of the farmhouses scattered across the valley beneath the dark ridge of mountains, with Christmas trees shining in the living room windows and log fires blazing brightly in the fireplaces.

There was a Christmas tree at the little white house on Elm Avenue, where Spencer’s mother still lived; he had bought it and put it up for her two weeks before, but he had not bothered to get one for his own place. He was seldom home, anyhow. LeDonne wouldn’t have one, either. He avoided anything with overtones of sentiment, good or bad. The few Christmas cards he received, mostly from local insurance agents and car dealers, went straight in the trash. In any case, he was right: there was no need for either of them to hurry home.

LeDonne slid into the driver’s seat of the patrol car. Well, then, we’d best get it over with before the storm hits. I’ve already got the warrant. Get in.

The sheriff pulled on the worn leather gloves and wound an old silk aviator scarf around his neck before he took his place in the passenger seat. It’ll be dark in a couple of hours, too. In case this expedition makes me miss the Christmas parties, I hope we can find some place open for supper. I hadn’t even finished my sweet potato pie when you hauled me out of Dent’s. I suppose this little mission of yours will take us to the back of beyond?

LeDonne grunted, unmoved by his boss’s litany of complaints. You ought to thank me. I’ll bet those party invitations all came from local bureaucrats, and you know you’d hate every minute you had to spend with them. You’d never get enough to eat from the hors d’oeuvre trays, and you might even break your rule and drink too much just to be able to stand the company. So consider this warrant your Christmas gift.

Spencer laughed and caught the folded sheaf of papers the deputy tossed to him. After all the years he and Joe LeDonne had worked together, the deputy knew him well. There was no sense in arguing with the truth. Spencer would have hated those parties. Glad-handing was his least favorite part of the job, and he dreaded every political year as if he were facing a murder trial instead of reelection.

All right, but this had better not be a wild goose chase on account of some silly misdemeanor. I’m not jailing a litterbug or a jaywalker tonight. Christmas Eve. He unfolded the papers, squinting at the fine print. Left my reading glasses back on my desk, he muttered. Does that say Shull?

That’s right. J. D. Shull. And he’s no jaywalker, either.

Address says Route One. That’s out past Dark Hollow. Spencer saw a blank space in the jumble of scrawled writing. And there’s not a phone listing for him, either. No surprise there. I swear that part of the county is only on the map two days a week.

LeDonne did not smile. Because he had not grown up in this place, acquainted with or kin to half the county as Spencer Arrowood was, LeDonne did not share the sheriff’s inclination to be friendly to strangers. He gave the benefit of the doubt to no one. The way he saw it, his job was to execute that warrant and to bring in whomever the court had told him to fetch. If there was a misunderstanding to be sorted out or any justice or mercy to be dispensed, that was someone else’s responsibility, not part of his duties. He would bring in the prisoner they asked for, and whatever happened after that was not his concern.

So what did this J. D. Shull do that’s so all-fired important that we have to haul him in on Christmas Eve?—And if you tell me he bounced a check, I’m going to be out of this car at the next stop sign.

Warrant says hit-and-run. He smashed into a car in Knoxville and took off, but somebody got the plate number. Knoxville wants him brought in.

Anybody killed?

Nobody even hurt.

Spencer heaved a weary sigh and shook his head. "Then why in Sam Hill do

Reviews for Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past

[thebentley · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not quite up to the standard of the rest of McCrumb's sophisticated and well-plotted Ballad series, this short, sweet Christmas story is kind of the equivalent of the Christmas episode of an ordinarily heavy television drama. Pleasant, nostalgic, and full of Appalachian holiday details, it's brief and light enough to fit between your stressful holiday errands.

[tjsween-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great story to read each year. Vintage Sharyn McCrumb

[delphimo_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad series features wonderful characters basking in the sunlight of the Tennessee mountains. This latest book has many of the characters, but the story ends too quickly to enhance the story. This is a very short Christmas novella about the power of ghosts and angels. Who would think that a sheriff and his deputy would be considered Christmas angels by a suffering elderly couple? Who could imagine that a ghost from the early 1940's could lead a retired couple from Florida to experience a mountain Christmas? McCrumb alternates between the two scenes a little too briskly, as if racing to the finish line. The story ends just as abruptly.

[aztwinmom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past does just what a Christmas story should do. It leaves you with a smile on your lips and warmth in your heart. Two separate stories are alternately told , each delightful in its own way. The only quibble I have is that I kept expecting some link between the separate stories. A great quick read with a cup of tea before the fireplace.

[readinggeek451 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A slight but enjoyable Christmas story, related to McCrumb's Ballad mystery series although not itself a mystery but rather a slice of Appalachian life.Parallel storylines follow Nora Bonesteel helping her snowbird neighbor with a mysteriously fallen Christmas tree and Sheriff Arrowood and his deputy heading out to arrest a hit-and-run driver on Christmas Eve. The latter plot is the more surprising, the former the more satisfying.

[alekee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Reading this book was like reading two short stories at once, and although they flipped back and forth, it was a quick easy read.The old Honeycutt place has been sold and a summer resident has been fixing it up. When strange things begin to happen, they contact Nora, as she has a gift of Sight. Had a few chuckles when it was told what was happening, a palm tree? Really? The story did have interesting insight into past Christmas at the mansion, and brought us up to the present.The second story I could almost guess what was happening, really funny, and the old man really got his monies worth. I loved it. Just one more thing and then I can go, ok, how about chopping a months worth of wood? Or, half a dozen other chores that seem to be waiting for them, the real spirit of Christmas, yes!I think I was expecting more, but the stories satisfied me, and felt maybe the characters got what was expected and maybe more.I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Abingdon Press, and I was not required to give a positive review

[twink_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A Christmas book? Already Luanne? I know, I know, but can I be the first to tell you that there are only eighty days until Christmas! One of my favourite things to do in the days leading up to the twenty fifth is to read holiday tales. So, really, I'm just giving you lots of advance notice.....and a chance to own Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past! I've found that many novelists publish a holiday story featuring their recurring characters or settings. And that's true with Sharyn McCrumb's first Christmas book. McCrumb also writes what she knows..... ...."My books are like Appalachian quilts," says Sharyn McCrumb. "I take brightly colored scraps of legends, ballads, fragments of rural life, and local tragedy, and I piece them together into a complex whole that tells not only a story, but also a deeper truth about the culture of the mountain South." Nora Bonesteel has lived her whole life in her family home in the mountains. She has fond memories of years and Christmases gone by. When her newish neighbour comes to call, prattling on about their house being haunted, Nora has an idea what might be going on.... McCrumb also includes a parallel storyline featuring Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and Deputy Joe LeDonne, who are reluctant to carry out an arrest warrant on Christmas Eve. When they arrive at the house, they too are in for a bit of a surprise.... McCrumb's description of the settings evokes vivid pictures of time and place. But it is Nora's memories that stayed with me - Christmases gone by that were celebrated in a simpler fashion, without the commercial frenzy. It was about the people, not 'things'. McCrumb's style of writing is comfortable, almost folksy, leaving the reader feel like they're part of the story. This was an excellent start to this year's holiday tales!

[cathyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sharyn McCrumb revisits her most beloved characters from her Ballad novels in Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past, and she does so in fine style. McCrumb's writing effortlessly imparts her knowledge of the heritage, customs, and language of the people who live in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. In fact she made me smile early on simply by using a phrase that I grew up with and haven't heard since I moved away: "as independent as a hog on ice." Many things can bring back memories of home. Language is one of them.Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and Deputy Joe LeDonne's storyline is a bit of very enjoyable comic relief. Never underestimate the wiliness of an old man. On the other hand, Nora's task is a bit more serious, and it involves her knowledge that there is more to this world than the eye can see. Everything was going well at the old Honeycutt place. Shirley Haverty and her husband immediately started fixing up the neglected house that they intended to use as a summer home. It was only when they decided to stay for the winter and celebrate Christmas that life began to get truly interesting, and Nora's knowledge of the Christmas of 1943 will prove to be the key in bringing harmony back to the Haverty's house.If you're already a fan of McCrumb's Ballad series, I know I'm singing to the choir. If you have yet to read one of those Ballad novels (the first is If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O), I urge you to read this novella. It's the perfect introduction to a marvelous series of books, and a wonderful little story in its own right.

[lindz2012 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story is about sheriff Spencer Arrowood and deputy Joe LeDonne and Nora Bonesteel. Will happen with them. The sheriff and deputy go on a call to bring in someone. They go about as if they now the person. Though the person they have come to get put them though some things. To find out what they did and help they do. They all look like they may on spend Christmas away from home.

Nora get a visit from a couple that bought the old Honeycutt's house. Things start to happen once this couple decides to come up and spend Christmas at the house. Nora and many other things start to happen with memories and spirits are found in the walls. You need to read to find out what the story is behind the old memories.

[romonko · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as an early review copy, but I finally just got to it. I know it's out of season as this is well and truly a Christmas story. Actually, it's two Christmas stories about two very different situations. If anyone is familiar with Ms. McCrumb's Appalachia series, this little book tells two very different stories. One is about Sheriff Spencer Arrowwoord and his taciturn deputy Joe Le Donne. The other is about the ancient seer that lives in the neighbourhood by the name of Nora Bonesteel. Norah and Spencer are acquainted, but they do not meet each other in this little book. Nora is asked by some new neighbours to help them with what they think is a haunting . Someone is upsetting their Christmas tree and scattering the ornaments. This little task causes Nora to go back in her memory to Christmases when she was a child during the Second World War. Once she does that in her mind, she has no trouble identifying the culprit and providing her neighbours with a solution. Spencer and Joe are delivering a warrant for the arrest of an alleged hit-and-run accident. It's Christmas Eve and they're both in a hurry to get this last task done before heading off for their own Christmas Eve plans. They get far more than what they bargained for when the reach the remote home of two elderly people. All ends up fine in the end, and Spencer and Joe receive a lesson in helping out people in need. The little stories are magical and the lessons portrayed wonderful. I love Sharyn McCrumb's Appalachian series and this little book is like a gift for her legions of fans.

[smartchiksread · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When I saw this book, I knew I had to read it. I am a huge fan of Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad Novels, and I dearly love Appalachian fiction. Although this is a bit different from McCrumb's other novels, it is still a pretty good book. I LOVE that she goes into detail about how the original Appalachian people celebrated Christmas. (One thing I love about Sharyn McCrumb is that she values and celebrates the Appalachian culture.)I was expecting a great deal of suspense- McCrumb's other works keep you on the edge of your seat. This one was more easy going. It did point out the difference in the natives of Appalachia and the summer people. Their lack of appreciation and understanding of the native culture is well illustrated here. Mostly this book meanders slowly through two separate plots- a summer family has renovated a local mansion and feels that it is haunted. They seek Nora's psychic abilities to remedy the situation. Meanwhile, Sheriff Spencer Arrowwood and Deputy Joe LeDonne must serve a warrant on Christmas Eve in an area that is not known for its appreciation of the legal system.Fans of McCrumb will not find the usual suspense, but they will find familiar characters in a light-hearted novella. Read this book if...*You love Sharyn McCrumb's other works*You love southern fiction*You love Appalachian fiction*You love Christmas stories

[mikerhode · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Too much historical lecture embedded in a very short pair of stories.

[sable677 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past is the first work that I have read by McCrumb, and I found that I really enjoyed it. Both stories in novella captured the holiday spirit making for a heartwarming tale. I enjoyed how Nora helped her new neighbors put to rest a ghost from her past at the same time the Sheriff and his Deputy inadvertently helped an elderly couple in the process of doing their job. The characters were well developed considering the length and purpose of the storylines, and I found myself caught up in both tales. I especially enjoyed the character of Nora. McCrumb did a great job at creating a wonderful holiday tale, and I am definitely looking forward to checking out more books by this author. Overall Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past proved to be a great holiday read, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a heartwarming holiday tale. Received a copy of Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[dara85 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nora Bonesteel is an elderly woman living in the mountains of Tennessee. Nora has the “sight”, which means she knows things before they happen and she also sees ghosts. Nora is pleased the Havertys from Florida have bought the old Honeycutt place and are fixing it up. The Havertys are “summer people”, but decided to stay for Christmas. The Havertys have put up a Christmas tree, but the tree has been mysteriously knocked over several times. Nora is invited into the old home where she has not been since she was a girl and she remembers attending Christmas parties in the home. Nora is able to solve the mystery of the tree being tipped over. In a parallel story the sheriff and his deputy go out Christmas Eve to arrest an older man for a minor traffic accident. The old gentleman is not quite ready to be taken to jail.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

'Tis the season for new Christmas tales to start appearing on bookstore shelves and I admit I’m a sucker for a good Christmas story. This year’s first is the new novella, Nora Bonesteel’s Christmas Past by author Sharyn McCrumb. Nora Bonesteel, whose family has lived in the Appalachians since the 1700s has the Sight. Because of this, her new neighbours have asked her to help them with a rather disconcerting little problem that has arisen in their house with their Christmas decorating and which Nora suspects is rooted in the past.At the same time, Sheriff Spencer Arrowood and his deputy Joe LeDoone have set out across the mountain to arrest JD Shull who accidentally hit a senator’s car and then fled the scene. Despite it being Christmas Eve and with a snowstorm on the way, the senator had demanded the elderly man’s immediate arrest. But, when they arrive at Shull’s house, they find themselves confronted with more than they bargained for including the Christmas Spirit.Many of the characters in this delightful novella will be familiar to fans of McCrumb from many of her other Ballads novels. However, you don’t have to have read any to appreciate Nora Bonesteel’s Christmas Past. McCrumb has a deft and gentle hand with descriptions and the story evokes strong feelings of both time and place. The two separate stories are intertwined and work well together to evoke the spirit both of Christmas and the Appalachians. There is just a touch of the paranormal as well as a sense of the need to recapture the less commercial side of Christmas in the first tale giving it a kind of Dickensian feel while the second has a more O Henry kind of feel eliciting a sense of surprise and the joy that can come from the generosity of spirit of the season. This is a sweet tale meant to entertain while speaking to the real meaning of Christmas and is a fine read to get you ready for the season.

[beckyhaase · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

NORA BONESTEEL’S CHRISTMAS PAST by Sharyn McCrumbTwo separate Christmas stories that take place in McCrumb’s Appalachia are intertwined in this cozy novel. Although the stories never link they are both lyrical and atmospheric. McCrumb’s characters are fully developed even though the two stories are individually quite short – novella length. Both combine comic scenes with pathos. I enjoyed the jumps from story to story as the chapters alternate stories. Some may find this disconcerting.