Sad Country Blues: A Murder Mystery in the Mountains of Virginia

Sad Country Blues with an updated cover is a slight re-write of the original murder mystery. It opens just before daylight on a Monday morning. Clay lays in bed listening to the wind rattle the windowpanes-vaguely remembering a strange recurring dream. It was about being drafted back in the Army and being sent to Iceland. He was trying to explain to the Army that he had already served one tour. They didn't believe him. It was a relief to wake up. As he listened to the wind, he heard the creaks and groans of the old farmhouse when a gust hit it. Even though he was sleeping in the same room where his mother had died, he wasn't superstitious. Tucker who believes the medicinal and magical properties of ginseng are legend, has weaved the roots properties into his crafted stories and noteworthy characters. He writes that the most valuable roots are old and big and resemble a man with a body, arms, legs and head. One could almost say that it's the Appalachian heart, soul and spirit of his colorful characters. He acknowledges the Chinese, Korean and Asian peoples' use of the "tonic for its many visceras, such as quieting animal spirits, establishing the soul, allaying fear, expelling evil effluvia, brightening the eyes, opening the heart, benefiting understanding and if taken for some time, invigorating the body and prolonging life."