Category Archives: 2004

2004

Martha Witt. Broken as Things Are. New York: Henry Holt, 2004.

Fourteen-year-old Morgan-Lee divides her summer between spending time with her autistic and occasionally abusive older brother and developing a crush on a childhood friend. Morgan-Lee’s parents, aunt, and younger sister are too caught up in their own lives to pay much attention, leaving the young narrator to take the first steps into adulthood on her own. The story is set in a piedmont North Carolina town similar to the author’s hometown of Hillsborough.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Orange, Piedmont, Witt, Martha

Lynn York. The Piano Teacher. New York: Plume, 2004.

Miss Wilma, the longtime piano teacher in the fictional small town of Swan’s Knob, N.C. (based on the author’s hometown of Pilot Mountain), lives a life of quiet routine until her rebellious daughter Sarah shows up on her doorstep. It turns out the excitement is only beginning, as Sarah is followed by her ex- husband and her current boyfriend. When a local police officer is murdered, the attention of the town turns quickly toward the new arrivals. The story is told from several points of view, including those of Miss Wilma and of Roy Swann, an aging, affable bachelor who has had his eye on the prickly piano teacher for years.

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Comments Off on Lynn York. The Piano Teacher. New York: Plume, 2004.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Surry, York, Lynn

June Spence. Change Baby. New York: Riverhead, 2004

When Avie Goss returns to her hometown, the fictional Regina, N.C., to care for her elderly mother, she finds more than she had expected. The simple family relationships that she had known growing up turn out to be much more complicated than she had thought. The story is told from the alternating viewpoints of Avie, her mother Zephra, and Zephra’s close friend Mabry. As Avie untangles family mysteries, changes loom in her own life when she begins dating a local minister.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Spence, June

Judith Minthorn Stacy. Maggie Sweet. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.

When Maggie Sweet discovers that her husband has spent the family vacation money on a pair of cemetery plots, she’s not happy. With her twin daughters nearly grown and her husband pretty much on auto-pilot, Maggie reflects upon a life lived largely for others and decides that it’s time to do something on her own. When an old high-school boyfriend shows up in town, Maggie finds the old flames renewed, especially as he encourages her to pursue her dream to work as a cosmetician at the local Curl & Swirl. The novel is set in the fictional western North Carolina town of Poplar Grove, possibly based on the author’s hometown of Mooresville.

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Comments Off on Judith Minthorn Stacy. Maggie Sweet. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Iredell, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont, Stacy, Judith Minthorn

Nicholas Sparks. The Guardian. New York: Warner Books, 2004.

Julie Berenson is only twenty-five when her husband dies of a brain tumor and she struggles to decide how to go on with her life. As the novel progresses, Julie begins to date again, but one of the men she encounters becomes too possessive too quickly and when somebody begins stalking her, she fears that it’s him. The “guardian” is a Great Dane puppy, a posthumous gift from her late husband. The novel is set in the coastal town of Swansboro.

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Comments Off on Nicholas Sparks. The Guardian. New York: Warner Books, 2004.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Coast, Onslow, Sparks, Nicholas

Steven Sherrill. Visits from the Drowned Girl. New York: Random House, 2004.

Despite the impressive panoramic view from the radio towers atop which Benny Poteat works, he doesn’t usually see much. But one day, as he watches silently, too far away to help, he sees a young woman walk into a river and calmly drown herself. Instead of reporting the suicide to the police, Benny examines the materials left at the scene, learns the identity of the girl, locates her family, and becomes romantically involved with her sister. The story is set in the fictional Piedmont town of Buffalo Shoals, which is populated by strangely intriguing and uniquely Southern residents.

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Comments Off on Steven Sherrill. Visits from the Drowned Girl. New York: Random House, 2004.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont, Sherrill, Steven

Judy Reene Singer. Horseplay. New York: Broadway Books, 2004.

Fed up with her life, Judy van Brunt quits her teaching job, leaves her philandering husband, and finds work at a North Carolina horse farm. Her instincts were correct: she finds happiness much easier to come by in the simple world of the horses. Singer writes with knowledge and humor about the equestrian world as she portrays Judy’s efforts at riding and managing thoroughbreds. Judy has some success with the horses, but their complicated and colorful owners prove more difficult to handle.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Singer, Jody Renee

David Schulman. The Past is Never Dead: A Gritz Goldberg Mystery. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 2004.

Gritz Goldberg is a psychiatrist in his hometown of Asheville, N.C., and is working in the same mental hospital where he once spent time as a child. Gritz becomes involved in a decades-old murder case when a local man with a heavy conscience confesses to him that the wrong man was convicted for the 1939 killing of a young woman at the Battery Park Hotel. As Gritz delves into Asheville’s past, he uncovers interesting – – and sometimes disturbing — facts about some of the city’s prominent citizens. Many of Schulman’s characters are based on actual historical figures, including the colorful U.S. Senator Robert Rice Reynolds and the prominent anti-semite William Dudley Pelley. In the course of chasing the down the facts of the case, Gritz learns a great deal about Asheville’s Jewish community in the 1930s.

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Comments Off on David Schulman. The Past is Never Dead: A Gritz Goldberg Mystery. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 2004.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Buncombe, Mountains, Mystery, Schulman, David

Karen Rose. Have You Seen Her? New York: Warner Books, 2004.

Special Agent Steven Thatcher is on the trail of a serial killer who is targeting cheerleaders in the fictional Raleigh suburb of Pineville. In between chasing criminals, Thatcher, a widower, finds time to care for his three sons. Worried about his eldest son, he meets with the boy’s teacher, Jenna Marshall, and the sparks fly. Their romantic involvement becomes especially complicated when it turns out that the killer may be eyeing Jenna as his next victim.

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Comments Off on Karen Rose. Have You Seen Her? New York: Warner Books, 2004.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship, Rose, Karen, Suspense/Thriller, Wake

Michael Parker. Virginia Lovers. Harrison, N.Y.: Delphinium, 2004.

The rural community of Trent, N.C., a fictional town between Fayetteville and Wilmington, is shaken when a local gay teenager is found murdered after a high school party. Thomas Edgecombe, owner of the town’s weekly newspaper, begins to report on the case and is horrified to learn that his two sons may be suspects. The Edgecombe boys do not help their case when they disappear, running away to Washington, D.C. The novel follows the three Edgecombes as they struggle to understand the crime, its consequences, and each other.

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Comments Off on Michael Parker. Virginia Lovers. Harrison, N.Y.: Delphinium, 2004.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2004, Coastal Plain, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Parker, Michael