Ferrol Sams and Linda Berry
Barb Moore

For all of you who enjoyed the tales of Porter Osborne, Jr. in Ferrol Sams' trilogy of a young boy growing up in rural Georgia, you're going to love his newest work, "Down Town." The master storyteller yet again entertains us with a journal written by fictional James Aloysius Holcombe, Jr. to Ephraim Holcombe Mookinfoos. The tale begins immediately after the Civil War and extends to present day. Ferrol Sams peppers his stories with characters we all know and love (and endure) in our own hometowns. In this tale, he has an almost confusing cast of characters at first. It disturbed me just a bit when I began reading, but after a chapter or two, I decided that most of the characters added flavor to the story, but did not need to be sorted and memorized. The central family to remember is the Corfield family, whose cemetery plot is pictured on the front cover of the book.

Ferrol Sams spins such a wonderful rich tale of life in rural Georgia, and I have been waiting so long for a new story of his. I noticed a few months ago an article in a magazine stating that Ferrol Sams was finally going to retire from his physician practice and write a new novel, and I have been waiting with some impatience. It did not disappoint. We can all relate in some way to the richness of life in a small southern (Georgia) town that Ferrol Sams describes in his books, and particularly in "Down Town." After all, we live it, too!

"Death and the Easter Bunny" is a delightful whodunit written by Linda Berry of Denver, Colorado, and is her first novel. However, Ms. Berry has roots in our part of Georgia. Her own cousin, Johnny Shuman, who, she is quoted as saying, "has been policin' in South Georgia for quite a while," is her inspiration for Ogeechee's Police Chief. Those of you who know Johnny also know that HE is quite the storyteller! As is Ogeechee's Henry Huckabee, one of the main characters in Berry's stories. He is joined by Ogeechee's newest and only female police officer, cousin Trudy Roundtree. Join Hen and Trudy as they unravel a murder in their small town with the help of newspaper editor Phil Pittman, who is also the volunteer fire chief; Miss Sarah Kennedy, who is in her 80's and was the Terror of Ogeechee High School back in the day; and assorted other wonderful sources of gossip, information and speculation. Linda Berry's characters are fresh, wholesome (for the most part- don't forget the murderer) and believable. Her book is fast-paced, and the relationships between the folks of Ogeechee are easy to follow.

Linda Berry has written further mysteries that take place in Ogeechee since her very entertaining first one. Stay tuned to hear more from this author in the fall, as she will be appearing at our own Franklin Memorial Library!- -Barb Moore works at Franklin Memorial Library.

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