Emeralds in the Snow

Date of Review:

02/11/2008

Published Work:

Reviewer:

JC Walkup

Source:

Smoky Mountain News

Review Excerpt:

Smoky Mountain News

Enterprise Mountaineer.

Review by

JC Walkup

Obsession begins and drives this tale of gems and greed set in these Western North Carolina Mountains. The teller of the tale confesses to drawing on her family for minor characters the pictures of whom appear in the book.

The murder, theft of the gems and the main characters are fictional. Sugar Mountain, Boone and other locations are real. The descriptions of rescue procedures by the skiing rescuers are accurate. Pictures at the beginning of each chapter are of real people, places and things.

Overlaid on the mystery of stolen gems and betrayed trust is a love story the outcome of which depends on how the two young people involved choose to view the actions of two dead men. They have to separately arrive at ways to deal with the sins of their fathers. The understanding that they are not forever fettered to their ancestors' mistakes must come to them separately with much pain. A partnership in which one of deceased men did the digging and the other lived his private life in the mountains ended in death. The recluse's reluctance to have any commerce with the outside world made it possible for the other one to skim more than his share of profits from the emeralds. The public figure, Emerald's grandfather, was a pillar of the community for his entire life. However, after his death, his daughter and grand daughter, find a legacy of debts and doubts.

Emerald, the heroine, is raised with the comforts money can bring. She becomes a teacher because she enjoys teaching but looks on her job as a volunteer activity until her supposed fortune evaporates in the wake of her father's death. Her teacher's salary suddenly becomes the only support for both her and her mother. She makes plans to sell jewelry and personal treasures to make ends meet. Even the labels on the clothes in her closet mock her when her former lifestyle is exposed as a sham founded on her father's treachery. When she goes for what she thinks will be her last ski outing to Sugar Mountain, she falls hard for Lucky, a member of the skiing rescue team. Among Lucky's family she finds honesty and family loyalty that she envies. With mounting horror, she realizes that her father's treachery has robbed this decent loving family of their rightful income for many years.

The murderer possessed a weakness for the finer things that extended to his family. It was at once his strength and his undoing. It is up to the current generation to find a way through the labyrinth of lies he constructed to hide his crimes.

The book is a fun, fast read that leaves the reader wanting to know more about emeralds, how they were mined and what became of them. The obsession for the gems could use more development. The characters are clearly drawn (if a bit too stereotyped). A sequel is in order to find out more about the stones and the process of turning them into money, the people and who they become. These are the kind of characters who shape the world around them and readers enjoy that kind of development. This book is a great improvement over the author's first one. Readers can look forward to her next one.

Nobody writes spicy romance like Maggie Bishop. In Emeralds in the Snow,
Bishop gives us a new nightstand book, with a murder mystery to sharpen the
romantic flavor.
Em (short for "Emerald") Graham has had everything handed to her in life.
Her own intelligence provides her with a Ph.D. in mathematics, and her
grandfather's legacy pays for almost anything else she wants. Everett
Graham's fortune has left Em with no money worries at all-or so it seems.
When Em takes a fall, skiing at Sugar Mountain on a trail too difficult for
her, the ski patroller who comes to her rescue is Lucky Tucker.
Lucky has missed out on everything that makes Em's life easy: his own
grandfather Olin Tucker disappeared when Lucky was a boy, and his family
"don't have much but our pride." Lucky's heritage is less tangible than
Em's-solid work ethic, strong sense of community, and hearty appreciation
for family and friends. But one look into Lucky's blue, blue eyes, and Em
finds herself sliding down a trail she never expected to venture on.
From here, Jack should have Jill, and naught should go ill, but Em finds
that her estate has dwindled into debt. In true romantic-heroine tradition,
she is assailed by fears that this news might end Lucky's love. Adding to
her troubles, a mysterious map of the Tucker property leads to irrefutable
evidence that Everett Graham killed Olin Tucker for the income from Tucker's
emerald mine, and Em owes half the fortune Everett made to Lucky's family.
Like Bishop's previous novel, Emeralds in the Snow provides us with
sharply-drawn characters, an intriguing situation, and well-crafted scenes.
Lucky's family is a treat to spend time with; and the sub-plot of Em's
mother Lynette's love story with Lucky's uncle Harley is in itself a
polished gem.

—schuyler kaufman, Carolina Mountain Living

Maggie Bishop once more unveils a treasure-trove of information about the Appalachian region as well as the sport of snow skiing in EMERALDS IN THE SNOW. The familial connection between characters from Ms. Bishop's first book, APPALACHIAN PARADISE, and this one will, for some readers, feel like you are visiting old friends. The author skillfully builds the story, with enticing characters and sweet romance, and then offers impending doom to a relationship that you have been rooting for, leaving a spiraling sense of anticipation until the end of the story. An engrossing read, one that you will not want to put down. The story will leave you wanting to know more about the gems. Ms Bishop, I thank you for such a great read and look forward to reading more of your books in the future.

By Romance Junkies Reviewer: Moon Tee