Down by the Riverside: A Shady Grove Book

by Jackie Lynn

Book Overview

When her husband leaves her for a younger woman, Rose Franklin buys a camper and sets off--away from her heartache and anger. While she is settling into Shady Grove, a camp site along the Mississippi River in West Memphis, Arkansas, a respected and well-liked man in the community seems to commit suicide for no apparent reason. Could his death somehow be connected to the ancient slave burial ground that he was researching? As Rose comes to know the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312371276
• ISBN13: 9780312371272
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

mystery and murder

The author, Jackie Lynn, (actual name Lynne Hinton--Friendship Cake, etc.) has delivered a powerful story about a recent divorcee who is on her way to "some other life", when her truck breaks down and she is forced to spend a week at a campground run by ex-cons. In the midst of her stay she comes across a possible murder that local police have dubbed a suicide. The heroine becomes curious about the death, and hears rumors about unmarked graves and buried gold in the area. When she begins to investigate on her own, she finds much more than she was looking for, and a few things she never expected! Lynn uses a cast of colorful characters and a softly, poetic style of storytelling to uncover the mystery and reveal that sometimes things are not as they seem, especially on the outside. This book is strongly character driven and teasingly secretive in all the right places. I found it to be a fast and enjoyable read.

You'll want more of Jackie Lynn's mysteries

Jackie Lynn also writes under the name Lynne Hinton. Her novels, such as Friendship Cake and Hope Springs, have inspired and been enjoyed by many readers. They're what I like to call `feel good' novels. Rose decided, in a split second, that she was going to claim her mother's name. In the future she would be called Rose Franklin. Rose couldn't have a baby, her husband left her for a blond and then they divorced. Rose Franklin is reeling from the aftershock of a life that took a direction she'd never intended. But Rose has a camper and a getaway plan. She fills the camper with her meager belongings and heads west from North Carolina. When her 1987 Ford Bronco conks out in West Memphis, Arkansas, she's forced to stay for a few days at the Shady Grove campsite on the banks of the Mississippi River. But there's trouble at Shady Grove. A well-liked man, the local undertaker, Lawrence Franklin, committed suicide for no apparent reason. Rose doesn't buy the suicide idea and decides to investigate the death. Her investigation leads her to believe that Lawrence Franklin was murdered. And the murder had something to do with an old slave burial site and some long-lost treasure. On the surface, Jackie Lynn has written a cozy mystery. But it's really more than that. It's a delightful character study about a group of people bound together because of where their life journey has taken them. Rose meets a family with a sick child, a man called Tom Sawyer, the unusual campground owners and their employee and various other minor players who are so real they seem to jump off the page. Ultimately, for Rose, it's about self-knowledge, survival in the face of loss and her personal spiritual journey. Armchair Interviews says: Read Down By the Riverside and you'll want more of Jackie Lynn's mysteries.

Sweet and Simple

I confess: I chose this book from the shelf because of the sweet watercolor painting on the jacket (I paint when I can book the books down.) At first I thought I would not like it: the plot seemed pat (see other reviews for a summary) and the mystery aspect especially so. But I was soon pleased and touched by the story, as sweet and simple as the picture on the cover. The mystery turns out to be about an interesting aspect of Mississippi River history, but the mystery is not the point; this is a book about relationship and kinship, about trust and love and giving, and about families and how we find them. It's not Great Literature, and some will be turned off by the occasional visit of Angels from the Other Side, but I'm glad I was brought to it and glad I stayed.

delightful whodunit

Leaving behind a philandering husband with a full refrigerator and his much younger woman in North Carolina, Rose Franklin (dropping her married name) buys a camper and sets off for Arizona. However, she has some vehicle trouble so she stops in West Memphis, Arkansas, staying at the Shady Grove Campground, until repairs can be made. The locals greet her with the news that the highly regarded undertaker, Lawrence Franklin V committed suicide three days before Rose parked her camper. Rose hears more tales about the late Lawrence and the four generations of Franklins that preceded him. She begins to doubt that the man killed himself especially since he was reportedly excited about research he was doing into a slave cemetery. Unable to resist, Rose decides it is time for her to give back to these caring people and uncover the truth, but will learn much more especially about her inner self than just how and why number five died. DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE is a delightful whodunit that is more of a coming of age (middle age that is) character study in which the amateur sleuth learns just who she is. The story line is fun to follow as the eccentric local flavor adds spice to Rose's personal discover of self-actualization. Though occasionally the tale turns discordantly flowery, Jackie Lynn provides a deep Mississippi mystery starring a likable woman who starts to obtain a sense of achievement, redemption, and worth. Harriet Klausner