Hang Down Your Head

Randy Craig Mystery #3

by Janice MacDonald

Despite her best efforts to lead a peaceful life, murder, mystery and mayhem continue to follow reluctant sleuth Randy Craig. Maybe she shouldn't live in Edmonton. Or date a cop. Or work for the famous Folkways Collection library on the University of Alberta campus.Randy has just started the dream job of any banjo-playing folkie freelance writer, when the children of a deceased benefactress--whose generous donation funded her employment--try to stop the bequest. David and Barbara Finster, the angry, anti-folk offspring go to great lengths to un-endear themselves to the Folkways Collection staff by storming in to the office and threatening to shut down the project. When one of them shows up dead, Randy, as usual, finds herself a prime suspect with a motive and no alibi in sight.As bodies pile up, Randy finds herself forcefully distanced from her police investigator boyfriend Steve, who is assigned to the case. Not helping her relationship is the arrival of an intensely sexy researcher from the Smithsonian Institute, with a penchant for wandering around his hotel room clothed in not much more than a towel.Summertime in the Festival City of Edmonton is off to a very hot start and stands to get even hotter.

Genres: Mystery, Canada

376 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2011

About the author

Janice MacDonald is a bestselling Canadian author who is best known for a series of crime novels featuring amateur sleuth Miranda "Randy" Craig; the latest of these popular mysteries is The Eye of the Beholder (2018). The Randy Craig Mysteries were the first detective series to be set in Edmonton, Alberta, where Janice lives and works. Janice is also the author of 2017's Confederation Drive, a work of creative non-fiction written for Canada's 150th birthday. Her other titles include an award-winning children's book (The Ghouls' Night Out), a university textbook, and several non-fiction/historical titles about her home province.

Born on the side of a mountain in Banff National Park, the daughter of a cowboy from southern Alberta and a schoolteacher who herself had been born in a pioneer log cabin in the Peace River Country, Janice considers herself to be a example of the quintessential Albertan. A dyed-in-the-wool Edmontonian, Janice makes no apologies for setting her novels in a recognizable Edmonton and celebrating the things that make this northern metropolis so vibrant and unique.

Reviews

[Harvey Tilden · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a long-time folk music lover, I found this book to be at once fascinating and affirming. I also love mystery, and Janice does an excellent job of keeping the reader delving ever deeper into the strange events that propel her story ... the Edmonton details are both accurate and familiar, but they don't discourage 'outsiders' from reading and enjoying the book.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of “Hang Down Your Head” was a blast down memory lane as Edmonton is my hometown and much of the action was situated nearby my old south side haunts. One of the murders actually occurred in an obscure mall near my last home in Edmonton. Despite the copious detail about Edmonton and folk music and festivals and the day to day minutiae of Randy Craig’s (academic/detective) life with her policeman boyfriend Steve Browning, not much really happens despite several possibly connected murders. This book is mighty short on plot especially when the reader gets to the end of 364 pages and can’t even remember who got killed. And just how many times can Steve peck Randy on the forehead? Janice MacDonald has a light lively style and can turn a phrase, but she’s got to find some credible meat to put on the bones of her Edmonton based mysteries, including less glibness in her characterizations.

[Cheryl Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one more than The Monitor as I am not as much into the internet. Love all the Edmonton references.

[E.R. Yatscoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mystery lite. Too light and breezy as I am a more hard-boiled mystery reader. But this is more than a mystery as its a normal person's life who becomes involved in a murder. There is a mystery here....but the investigation is not done by the protagonist, who is along for the ride and a victim of other happening. Plenty of shopping, folk music history, dinners, chatting with friends, university politics, getting up in the morning, dressing, and going to bed. I'd say women who like cozy mysteries would like this. Well written in a breezy style and voice. I expected more mystery.

[Kelly Macfarlane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, lots of fun, especially for its look at Edmonton's folk festival and folk music in general. A good mystery, and I learned lots (one of the things I like about this series is how the author not only writes a mystery, but also provides interesting background information about the broader setting -- this time, Edmonton's Folk Music Festival and folk music in general).

[Glynis Whiting · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've ever been to Edmonton Folk Festival, you must read this book. I was reading it when the folk festival started last summer, and almost turned my car toward Alberta so that I wouldn't miss out on the fun. Randy Craig is "everywoman", which makes her antics particularly enjoyable.

[Leslie Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Janice's stories, perhaps because I met her at WWF - 2013. I liked this book, but not as much as her first one and certainly not as much as the last one .... Good read though. Loved the Edmonton scene.

[Donna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having read Ms. MacDonald's other books in the series and been disappointed, I thought I'd give this one a try. Still disappointed.

[Billie Milholland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delighted with the concept, but I know so little about the music scene. I think I missed major enrichment herein. Not the author's fault!

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and amusing if you live in Edmonton.

[Janice]

Enjoyed revisiting places I have been in Edmonton around the University and folkfest.

[Madeleine Mant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I love the entire series, Hang Down Your Head is a real stand out!